


Three Villains From The Valley of Skulls

by HaruIchigo



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Easter Eggs, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Road Trips, Western
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2020-03-07 12:12:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18872980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaruIchigo/pseuds/HaruIchigo
Summary: Canon Divergence AU in which Brendol Hux's ship crashes at the strange planet in the Unknown Regions, Armitage Hux tries to prove himself worthy, and two shady scavengers have their own agenda.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Три негодяя из Долины Черепов](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14418609) by [HaruIchigo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaruIchigo/pseuds/HaruIchigo). 



> LOOKING FOR BETA (native speaker)!
> 
> Fanart by Brezel:  
> https://fuchsmitbrezel.tumblr.com/post/173297460981  
> https://fuchsmitbrezel.tumblr.com/post/173303591811

_Come, heart, where hill is heaped upon hill:_  
For there the mystical brotherhood  
Of sun and moon and hollow and wood  
And river and stream work out their will;

 _And God stands winding His lonely horn,_  
And time and the world are ever in flight;  
And love is less kind than the gray twilight,  
And hope is less dear than the dew of the morn.

**W.B. Yates**

 

_I was just a child when the war started. I've traveled the galaxy with my teacher, looking for my kin, so I know what did he feel: the boy, who crossed the mountains and waste lands to find his father._

_Long time ago I was full of hopes and plans, like him, but now I am nothing but a black shadow roaming the desert._

_That night, sitting on a communication tower of a fallen Star Destroyer, I've watched a fallen star, which grew closer and closer to CLiff L-1. Many have witnessed it, and many made a wish on it: "Let it fall near my place, so I will be there first"._

_The star fell in the Valley of Skulls. And that determined the future._

_Every step has its consequences, and we, the Keepers of the Balance, are doomed to see the patterns of past and future._

_As a Keeper I must let the boy die. I must turn away from the trapped Chiss, who plead silently, with his eyes, to save the only person who mattered to him on the falling ship.  
But I am a bad Keeper. I was raised by humans, and I have a human heart. _

_Through the patterns of fate I see three riders, their black silhouettes against the setting sun, and I want to tell the boy riding between two men: "You must pay for everything in this world, one way and another.There is nothing free, except the grace of The Force"._

_But he needs to go his own way and pay his own price, so when I meet him, I say:_

_“Let the Force be with them, who wander”._

 

**1**

Hux just wanted to return to the ship.  
He has never dreamt of exploring new planets. He quite liked his life on a cruiser, where the air is well-conditioned and ionized, cleared of any strange smells. No scorching sun and morning chill – just strict and sensible schedule and change of lighting. But here...

He looked around nervously. From afar, the rock behind them looked even more like the red human skull. It watched their small group with the black and empty cavities of the caves.  
There were no normal rocks at all – just a labyrinth of grinning faces - but Father did not seem to care, he did not even look around, riding ahead, and only checked the map on the datapad. He didn’t care about the heat, too, but Hux became all jittery onto his motospeder. His uniform was soaking wet, clinging to his body, stinging, coarse, his feet hot in boots. Special fabric was supposed to protect against temperature changes, but it couldn’t cope with the midday sun. Hux was simply glad that it was even worse for ten small stormtrooper cadets silently dragging behind.

 

‘I want to return! I want my fresher!’, – he thought, feeling hot and shameful tears of self-pity burning his eyes. No one will ever order him to return! And then there is a lucky half of the cadets, sitting there, at Dignity and they talk about him and mock him for sure, and call him names. And he is here and can’t tell them to shut up.  
But there would be a fresher in the town, and when they come…  
It hasn’t helped much.

"Father ..." Hux called softly, not expecting to be heard. Rather, hoping that he will not be. "Can I remove my tunic?"

Father stopped the speeder and waited for him.

"Feeling hot?" He asked, and for a second Hux thought he heard something like concern in his voice.

“Yes, very much ... I'll put it back when we arrive in the settlement, I will do it right away, so…”

He bit his tongue, seeing a familiar expression on Father’s face - irritated disappointment.

"Armitage, you're ten, but Gallius Rax has already appointed you as an officer. Do you know what it means?”

“Yes, sir. It means that I have special rights and responsibilities. I must maintain prestige of Imperial Army and constantly prove that I am better than others. Keep the honor. I mean, I should keep the honor. Sir.”

He licked his dry lips nervously. It seemed like the right answer, word for word.

"Then what is with this pathetic whining? Your soldiers look at you! You can not be weaker than them! I’ve already told you, but apparently you did not understood. Am I a bad teacher, Armitage?”

Hux forced himself not to take his eyes off him. Father hated it.

"No, sir."

"Did I explain the basics of the officer's service to you?"

"Yes, sir."

“So, is it your fault?”

“Yes, sir”.

“Good. The Empire gave you this uniform, so you should be proud to wear it. Otherwise, I'll think about leaving you on this planet, to train your endurance”.

“Yes, sir”.

Hux knew that it is not a joke or empty threat. A jolt of panic hit him. Alone, on the wild, forgotten planet, in the Unknown Regions.  
He has almost come to terms with the fact that he will never return to his mother, but to lose his Father ...

"I beg your pardon, sir."

Father led his speeder forward again, not even bothered to answer.  
Hux hasn’t felt so hot anymore. He was shivering.

 

The red rocks ended, the stone jaws unclenched. There was a smooth, level ground ahead, like a table, and somewhere in the distance, behind a green strip of forest, the high mountains in snow caps trembled in a haze. Nothing alive for miles around, just a strangely shaped dot on the horizon. A building? A boulder?  
Hux raised binoculars to his eyes, and bit his lip when the hot plastic burned the skin.  
The dot turned out to be a star destroyer, collapsed to the side like an abandoned children's toy. There was a fragment of a strange white mural on its bottom, like a snake or a dragon.

_"We are not alone ..."_

He remembered how just a few hours ago he had woke up in his cabin, feeling that the ship suddenly plunged down, like a speeder caught in an air pocket.  
A dull red light splashed around, a siren wailed in the distance, someone was running past the door.  
Most of all Hux wanted to hide under the bunk. He tried to hide, but, laying in the cool darkness, he has imagined how his unit panics, forgetting everything they had been taught, how these vile wild children from Jakku kill everyone they see ...  
He has imagined what Father would do to him, in that case. He has imagined himself standing in front of court martial, handcuffed. He has imagined Admiral Sloan’s disappointed face...  
And got out from under the bunk.  
It turned out that all this time the children sat fully armed with weapons in their hands, and waited for his orders.  
It turned out that “Dignity” was shot down by the Cliff-L1 planetary defense system.  
It turned out that an “emergency landing” is when an immense force hit your shaking and vomiting body against the walls.  
And it is impossible to do anything. The only way is to hold tightly on something. And hold the tears back.

They survived, and the planet was even inhabited. The old imperial map of Cliff-L1 turned out to be rather an outline, a thin line among the blank spots. On the other side of one such spot a single dot blinked - Bancor, a colony settlement.  
Hux saw ancient maps on which the unknown zones were signed with threatening "Here be krayt dragons". He had no doubt that there definitely are krayt dragons on this planet, or something else terrible, something deadly, and he is not ready for this.  
He is not ready for things that couldn’t be found in the textbooks.

"There's a Star Destroyer," he said to his father, trying to put more of the officer's confidence into his voice. - “And the tower is intact. Maybe we can transfer the message to Supremacy from there ..."

"Maybe"? This is the first thing we need to check”. Father sighed in exasperation. "And you’ve thought of this just now? Incredible, Armitage. I had a better opinion of you”.

"I'm sorry, sir".

Hux thought that he could not misunderstand: the order was to go to the settlement...  
But he did not say anything. Maybe Father just did not feel it necessary to talk about the obvious.

The Star Destroyer looked haunted - some explosion snatched a huge piece out of it, and through the hole the sand-stalled cabins, bent bulkheads, stakes of corridors could be seen. The wind howled in the bottomless halls and vents.  
The scanner did not find any life forms, and Hux already commanded two stormtroopers to go on scouting, when, suddenly, a shot bite the sand in front of Father's speeder.  
The stormtroopers instantly snatched the blasters and stood back to back, protecting the officers, and Hux was sitting in a stupor, his mouth slightly open.  
He completely forgot to give a command.

_"It's a fight."_

He was horrified to think that his pants would be wet not with the sweat. He thought he should slip behind the speeder and hide behind its iron side.

_"It will be a real battle! What should I do?! It was the main thing to remember at the lessons, now what's next ... "_

"Drop ya weapon and no one will suffer." - The voice was heard as if from everywhere, calm, confident. Someone apparently sliced the warning system of the Star Destroyer.

Father raised his hands.  
"May I ask who am I talking to?" - he answered calmly, and Hux looked at him in awe.

“With free people o’ Cliff, who can shoot any o’ ya right away. Put your toys down, willya?”

Father slowly put the blaster on the ground. Hux, looking at him, did the same, but the thought of disarming the stormtroopers terrified him.

"Drop the weapon," he ordered, and was relieved to notice that his voice did not even shake.

“We do not claim your property”. Father's voice sounded soft, insinuating. "We thought the ship was abandoned, and wanted to use its transmitter."

The invisible gunslinger went silent for a moment.

"Didya land it in da Valley o’ Skulls?" - he asked.

“Yes”.

Again, a pause. But this time a rope fell from somewhere in the bowels of the ship, and a man, wrapped in black, slid silently to the sand.  
He unfastened the carbine slowly, took off the blaster from his belt and went to the detachment. A man (or at least a humanoid) was like the desert inhabitants that Hux caught a glimpse of at Jakku: not a centimeter of open skin, a solid black visor between the hood and the scarf.  
The closer a person approached, the yellower his clothes has become, adjusting to the color of the sand.  
Reflective camouflage. Is that why the scanner did not find any signs of life?  
Hux imagined an entire army, hidden among the wreckage, and it made him sick. But fear did not stop him from observing: the gunslinger’s blaster was an old imperial model, but there was no such camouflage among the imperial weapons.  
At least in the textbooks.

“Da transmitta hannot worked for a lon’ time," the man said. He was chewing words, as if he was too lazy to even open his mouth in this heat. Hux had heard this accent from some cadets at the Academy, but he had never been interested in where they came from. Some backwater trash probably.

"It's a pity," Father answered, dropping his hands. "Then we'll go on to Bancor."

“O’course”. The man in camouflage did not budge. "Only you wilnaught find anythin’. Bancor was burnt down ten years ago. Da Czerka war, d’ya know?”

“I'm afraid not.”

The man chuckled condescendingly.

  
“O’course, how could ya. How's da Empire going?"

"We saw better times."

Hux recognized this intonation and cringed internally. Father began to lose patience.

"Annt we’all. You can try it in Ard-Arnis, but it’s a month of walkin’.

"We have time, thank you."

The man nodded.

  
"Only I wunnot advise. You will be hit sooner”.

Hux licked his dry lips.

“By whom?” He asked softly, but the black visor turned to him.

“Dere’a a bunch o’people. Slave traders, scavengers, wild tribes ... and the guys who knocked you down”.

"We were hit by an automatic planetary defence system." Father pursed his lips and threw a murderous glance at Hux. - “Slave traders, scavengers ... and who do you belong to?”

“I?” - The gunslinger lifted the visor and began to unwind the handkerchief. "Imma scavenger."

Hux expected to see cyberimplants, scary scars, scales or fur maybe, but there was nothing like that. It was an ordinary man, looking Father's age, but more slender, tanned, with keen hazel eyes and salty stubble despite the age. His hair, too, was brown with streaks of gray. He did not look either cruel or angry. Just plain.

"And why should I believe the scavenger?"

  
"You shunnot, commandant, but ya yarself know to have very little time. Your friends up there do not rush to save ya, so if ya do not show up quickly, they can fly away. And I know da closer place an’ better than them burned ruins.”

  
Father frowned, his face became darker than rainclouds. Hux could not stand it and lowered his eyes, feeling the blood rush in his temples.

"Do you have a map?"

“Yes, have’un”.

"Then why do not my people just shoot you and take it away?"

Another shot exploded the sand. Hux jerked his head up, hoping to see where it had been fired from, but the dead star destroyer was silent.

"Then why shunnot my people just shoot ya and pick up ya junk? Commandant, all my information is encrypted, an’ da most important half is in my head. Stop foolin’ around, Imma offering a deal. We will take ya to the meteorological staishun, and yawill help us repair da truck. And we'll both get off this planet in different direcshuns.”

Father considered the proposal for a while. Then he nodded slowly.

“Go ahead. If I decide that you are acting weird …”

The scavenger grinned.

  
"We’ll be, fo sho, Commandant. Dere’s da way with us folks”.

Hux missed the moment when the second scavenger went closer. He just suddenly towered behind the the first one. Face covered. A sniper rifle holsted on the shoulder.

Even if the father was frightened, he did showed it.

  
“Will you please introduce yourself and your friend?”

"Imma Theliv." The scavenger pointed at his back. “He's Thrass. Do not try to talk to da guy, he does not speak Basic.”

“Brendol Hux. This is Armitage, my ... son.”

Hux nodded slightly, giving the tramps the bored look. Let them think that he does not care about them. If only they did not notice how sad he becomes when Father pauses, when he unwillingly admits their relation.  
How he does not want to be called "Armitage". It is a prissy, pretentious and girlish name. “Hux” is much better – short and strong, like a gunshot  
The same as Father's.

"Nice ta have business with ya, Brendol and Armitage. Imma hope neither the Red Suns nor the Confederates will hunt us”.

"The Confederates?" Father asked, frowning.

“What, d’ya even know where are ya? - Theliv smiled. "Welcome ta da Confederation of da Hand. As them locals call it: “Da Thrawn Empire”.

 

***

Thrawn.

Hux has heard this name, but before he saw evidence in the textbooks, he has believed that it was just a fairy tale invented by non-humans. An ingenious, unbeatable admiral - and of course the only non-human - who made his way into the Imperial fleet only with his wits and talent.  
Hux did not believe in fairy tales. But the dry numbers and encyclopedias said the same thing.

He could not stand it and he went closer to Theliv. Theliv and Thrass turned out to own two “fennies” – the red fathiers, not as long-legged as the common ones, just a head taller than a man, and with pointed muzzles. When Hux came closer, the huge ear of the fennie turned to him like a locator.

"Scavenger!" Hux decided to immediately show these tramps their place.

“Yeah?”

Hux took a breath. Just like this. It is not scary at all. He has ten armed soldiers, and this is just a ragamuffin.

"Thrawn died in the Battle of Lothal, everyone knows that. He can not rule anything. What is the "Hand of Thrawn"?

"That's what da citadel on Nirauan is called. Them say there are five towers, and da thing looks like a palm, which is about to become a fist. Dis gent has many them fortresses, ya soldier boys like that, yes?”

  
Hux did not answer. He liked ships more than stationary bases. Life taught him a lesson: it is always better to be quick on the rise, because everything dear to you can collapse at any second.

“And still, it can not be the same Thrawn”.

Theliv shrugged.  
"Well, ya ask them soldiers if you do not believe me. Only the boys annt sweet ta talk ta. They have real blasters.”

"Thrawn served the Empire faithfully. They will not shoot when we say where we are from!”

In fact, Hux was not sure at all. First, the Empire is no more, and second, – malicious deserters always fight back. So Father said. If Thrawn survived, but did not return to the Empire, he is a deserter.

“I saw them wars here. I saw Bancor burn, because Czerka dinnot want ta give it away. They also said: “Thrawn is no more, he’s just a phony”. And then da Hand reached them.”

"But we do not need anything from him. We are not his enemies.”

  
Hux wondered if the scavenger knew about the troubles in the Empire, and decided not to talk about it.

"Then why did they shoot ya down?"

"It was an automatic system," Hux repeated Father’s words.

Theliv raised an eyebrow.

"P’haps," he answered shortly.

***  
They made a stop near the spring at the edge of the forest. The second scavenger immediately disappeared behind the trees, with his sniper rifle.  
He was making Hux nervous. "Does not know the Basic," so maybe he is a non-human? But non-humans are deceitful hypocrites. Either primitive savages or insidious creatures. And they all hate humans. They all wanted the Empire to fall. If even Admiral Thrawn, who owed everything to the Empire, deserted, then it is impossible to trust any of these creatures.  
The tramp and the non-human brought them into the forest, where the grave danger can hide!  
Hux went to Father slowly . Father was just pouring water from the spring in the hiking flask. He frowned and sighed, looking at the muddy bottom of the spring.

"Can we really trust them, sir?" - Hux asked softly, squatting next to him, and then jumped up - fearing that Father would take it as disrespect. "What if they lead us to the enemy? He said that the soldiers of Thrawn …”

Father chuckled.

"First, you should have thought about this before. An officer who can not calculate the probable outcome, is a bad officer. And second, it is unlikely that they lead us to the soldiers. Smugglers do not usually cooperate with the authorities.”

"Smugglers ... sir?" Hux turned around nervously. The Cadets were sitting on the grass without taking off their helmets. He forgot to give them orders ...

"Do not be an idiot, you disgrace me. Their weapons are too good for the scavengers. And camouflage cloaks of such quality are not lying in the dump. Besides, you can not buy a cargo ship rummaging in the wreckage. Either they had some stash in this destroyer or they were looking for spare parts. And, even more likely, - they were waiting for us.”

Hux blushed with shame. He did not even think about all this. But Father was just an experienced officer.  
He, himself, need to gain more experience, and then he can just as easily draw parallels, connect unrelated details. He just has to look and see.

“Helmets off! Whoever wants to, can drink", – he commanded, passing by the cadets. All of them were relieved to follow the order, and only CD-0922 remained in a helmet, with his blaster in hand. What an upstart!

"Do I need to repeat it twice?" - Hux snapped at him.

CD-0922 jumped up and stood at attention.

“The forest can be dangerous, sir," he said, towering over Hux.

"I gave you the order!"

“Rising the voice without a reason again, Armitage?” - Father stopped beside them with his arms crossed over his chest.

Hux licked nervously his lips, trying to come up with a decent answer and not look like a crybaby. Father could punish him for this childish: "he does not obey!".

“CD-0922 doubts that I assessed the situation correctly, sir”.

And "tell him!" is a bad choice either.

He hoped that Father would chide the cadet. He imagined Father knocking an upstart on the ground with his large, puffed fist, kicking him under the ribs.  
He imagined how CD-0922 writhes on the ground, losing all bravado at once, and whimpers, and sobs like Hux no longer allowed himself to. The officer must be self-controlled even when he is punished. He dreamed that Father will punish CD-0922 at least once, but for some reason the upstart has only amused him.

"A faithful CD-0922, always on the lookout." Father laughed. "Fall out, soldier. We spent a long time in the heat, I do not need people with heat stroke and dehydration.”

He held out his flask with the silver Imperial crest on the side, to the upstart, and the cadet has finally took off his helmet, revealing an expressionless face and brown freckles.

“Here, have a drink. And listen to your body. You proved your stamina, but you are forbidden to bring yourself to exhaustion.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you sir.”

Hux gritted his teeth. Why is this idiot just been praised? CD-0922 just coaches the youngest cadets, that’s all! All he can do is wipe the babies' snot!

“The Cadet remembered what the officer had forgotten. A sentry, Armitage.”

  
There was not even a hint of warmth in Father's voice. "You forgot to set the sentry. You disgraced yourself in front of the soldiers.”

Hux pursed his lips so it did not tremble, clenched his teeth, knowing what would happen.  
Father raised his hand ...

_Doesn’t hurt._

Hux braced himself and didn’t reach for his burning cheek. This almost does not hurt. Last time it was more painful, the blow hit the ear and he almost lost consciousness.  
This does not hurt. This does not hurt. "Deserved punishment is not an excuse for tears," Father always said.

“I got it. Thank you sir”.

He was able to make his voice steady. Warriors never mumble.  
He waited until his father left, and ripped off the flask from CD-0922’s hand.

"DR-1633," he commanded, and the cadet next to him immediately stood at attention, ready to carry out the order. - “Hit CD-0922 in the face”.

DR-1633 was taller than CD-0922, larger, and easily knocked him to the ground. The latter did not resist, just laid there and waited.

"Now with your foot." Hux took a deep breath. The icy grip, that clenched his heart, relaxed.

He felt that someone was looking at him, and turned around. Theliv, sitting on a nearby tree with binoculars, watched him. Hux looked back angrily.

"What ..." he began, but distant bird screams and flapping of wings interrupted him. Theliv raised his binoculars to his eyes and nodded to himself.

“All clear!” - He shouted to Father, jumping off the tree. "Thrass told he’ll shoot if thins are clear."

Hux turned away.

  
“Helmets on! Fall in!” He shouted.

  
Stupid scavengers! Stupid cadets!

 

***

  
The forest went into the gorge, and through the green of the trees unfamiliar to Hux. The sheer walls of the laminated stone hang overhead.  
Neither forks nor twists: either retreat or break through with the battle.  
Thrass said that this is the only quick way through the mountains. Rather, Theliv assured them that Thrass said so. All that Hux heard was a set of hissing-growling sounds. Without expression. Emotionless.  
The non-human rode shoulder-to-shoulder with Theliv, his rifle across the saddle.  
A long strand of blue-black hair fell out from under the hood - that means no twi'lek and not some trandoshian. Someone more humanlike? But why does not he uncover his face? Maybe mirialan? ...  
The black visor turned to Hux, as if the smuggler had heard his thoughts. Hux looked back hostilely, putting all his contempt in his eyes, but Thrass looked somewhere over his head.  
Hux also turned around, but saw nothing but hummocky trunks and cadets, trampling low, faded grass.

“Are there any collapses here?” – Father asked in a low voice.

“Happ’ns. Locals have ta clear ‘em. D’you see therm brok’n trees are there? In da spring, plenty o’ landslides. Now we shall rise above, on a serpentine, and ya see them places”.

Theliv has always answered willingly, sometimes even cheerfully. He was not like the harsh, life-beaten smugglers from the stories about that Han Solo bastard. Not like Thrass, always silent, always ready to grab a rifle and shoot.  
Not so frightening.

They climbed the mountain road high above the gorge. Far away, the clouds sat on the tops of the mountains. They crawled closer and closer, one small, even hanging from the serpentine. It seemed that the road was about to break into the milky void.  
Hux, who had just suffered from the heat, was now shivering from the cold. He cowered, trying to stay behind Father so that he did not notice such unofficial behavior and did not chastise him for his forgotten greatcoat. Father, fortunately, did not care, icy mist seemed not to worry him at all; he just threw his own overcoat over his shoulders and began to sip more and more often from the small flat flask he always carried in his pocket.  
Looking at his wide black back, Hux suddenly thought, what would happen if Father would have simply collapsed from the cliff along with the moto-speeder on some steep turn?  
No more notations, no more punishments and no shouting. No more… of “that thing”.  
Only then who will protect him from smugglers and from the cadets? What if everyone will decide to rebel?  
Hux knew that no one likes him. He did not want to be loved by anyone other than mom, he knew that this will never happen anyway. Let them obey, that's enough.  
He straightened his back, trying not to tremble, trying to look only forward ... and saw them.  
The bright red shuttles emerged from the fog from the back and the front, and before he could shout "fire!", the world turned into a roaring hell.  
Nowhere to retreat. Nowhere to hide. Shots from the front guns crumbled nearby rocks, next to the firing cadets. One of them suddenly swayed and collapsed, but no one noticed, neither Theliv and Thrass nor Father - they were all too busy.  
Hux did not remember well what had happened after that. In his head the huge red letters burned: "RETREAT", but he could not remember whose order it was. His? Father’s?  
He tried to deploy the speeder on a narrow patch, but the shuttle that had been shot, lost control, spun, crashed into the rock just above it, and fell down.  
The mountain trembled. And this has saved Hux.  
He did not know well what was happening, because he clutched the steering wheel and squeezed his eyes tightly, spread out in the saddle. Around him, the rocks rolled and crashed, the stones rattled, an enormous force dragged the speeder somewhere down, hurling and turning like a wave, but the antigrav worked as it should - each time the speeder leveled, not letting Hux to fell off.  
It was like some horrible roller coaster: the stone avalanche running faster and faster to crash into the gourge, breaking trees like bones. The speeder spinned helplessly, jolted, and suddenly Hux was feeling that there is nothing to hold on to, and he is flying… no, falling, like in a dream, and green tree-tops are coming closer and closer each second. He remembered the pain, the small sharp branches snapping and clawing at him, slapping his face. He remembered the ground growing closer and closer…  
And then - a blackout.


	2. Chapter 2

A long, piercing scream woke him up. And then the gush of wind brought the same cry from far away, faint and barely audible.  
Hux opened his eyes and sat down. His whole body ached, but his limbs seemed intact. Everything ached equally.  
The avalanche turned the forest into an obstacle course: boulders, trees, piled on each other, twisted roots, broken trunks.  
Fennie, who was standing over him, opened his long pink snout and cried out again and received one more answer.  
There was nobody else but Thrass. He was sitting on the stone, trying to clean his muddy visor with his sleeve. The hood fell from his head, long hair scattered over his shoulders, and his eyes ...  
Hux swallowed, as the smuggler turned to him.  
Red burning eyes with sinister black pupils. Evil, hateful. Inhuman.  
Red eyes and blue skin. Chiss.

"Uh ... hey," Hux rose awkwardly and limped to him dying with fear. Most of all he wanted to run away to the other side. - “Hey, you! Where is my father?”

The Chiss was silent.  
Well, of course. Does not speak basic. But maybe he understands something? Separate words maybe?

”Father. My father". Hux said slowly. "Where?"

Silence.

"Brendol. Where?!”

No answer. Thrass gave him another unreadable glance and returned to his work.  
Hux felt tears caught in his throat. What a shame!  
"You wanted to be on your own, you wanted Father to die.” He said to himself. “Here you are. Alone. Happy now?"

"Useless idiot!" Swearing eased his tears a bit. “Everyone says that Chiss people are smart, but you're so dumb you can’t even speak Basic! You're an ugly, stupid creature, like all non-humans!”

The Chiss got up slowly. He towered over Hux, casting a black shadow upon him. Still silent.  
Hux stepped back. Thrass’ rifle still laid on a stone, but Hux was sure that the smuggler could strangle him with his bare hands. Just grab at the throat and lift...  
‘What are you staring at?! Huh?!”

"Maybe he does not understand them words, but he hears intonaishun perfectly" said someone behind him.

Theliv walked slowly out from behind the stone. A limping cadet was holding over his shoulder, the other trailed gloomily behind them. The third cadet tried to lead the scared fennie by the bridle. Hux swallowed another lump in his throat.  
Three cadets. Is this all?  
Thrass’ fennie run by, almost knocking him down, and began to rub its snout over the Theliv’s fennie’s long neck.

"Where is my father?" Hux asked, looking straight at Theliv, but trying not to turn his back to Thrass.

"If he's lucky, he's on da other side of this dam. If not, he is under da rubble". Theliv lowered the cadet on the stone and came closer. “Can you try him through comm instead of yelling at someone who does not understand ya?”

Hux blushed. He did not even remember about the comlink.  
He put his hand in his breast pocket and, to his horror, found plastic shards. The head of the comlink hanged on two wires, the iron case looked like a paper squeezed in a giant fist.

"Lemme have a look. Maybe we’ll fix it. By da way, let's look at you too..." Theliv reached out, but Hux jumped back.

“No! I do not trust you. And him.”

“For real…”

“Yes! For real! How do I know you are not with that people? You’ve lead us in a trap!”

“Da fine trap is this, almost killed us too. Nah, we are not sweet with da Red Suns.”

“I do not believe you. All non-humans are scum, if you are a friend of a non-human, then you’re also a scumbag!”

"It's not very polite, Armitage," Theliv said calmly, absently stroking his gun. Hux clenched the comm in his suddenly sweaty palms. The blaster is in the holster, it can not be drew quickly. But a fast kick...  
No. There were other ways. Father always said that one must keep honor and dignity, because every officer is a part of something greater.  
Even one officer is an Empire. Even one soldier.

"Cadets!" Hux raised his hand. He did dare to turn around. He was terribly afraid to hear the silence, but the cadet boots rattled on the rocks, the blaster fuses snapped.

"I don’t need to be polite with you! I am a lieutenant of the Imperial Navy, and you are nothing! The Empire hired you, you must address me "sir"!

Theliv and Thrass exchanged glances. Thrass asked something (at least it sounded like a question). Theliv answered shortly.

“Well?!" Hux was afraid that the situation was getting out of control, and almost ordered to open fire. But he restrained himself.

“Allrighty. Sir. A deal is a deal. Can you order them boys to drop da guns?”  
Hux grinned viciously.

"They can kill you with their bare hands. Find my speeder, quickly!”

“Huh, that’s da easy one” Theliv nodded at the fallen tree. The speeder hung, tangled in the branches, the fuselage slowly swayed in the wind. A broken anti-grav lied below.

"Then ... then I'll ride!"

"You can sit behind me, sir. Fennie won’t even feel ya”. Theliv smiled.

"Wipe that smirk away! The non-human will walk. Tell him!”

“First, he is da Chiss. Second, he has a name.”

“I do not care. I ride his fennie!" Hux grabbed the reins and dragged the beast closer, but the problem suddenly arose. The stirrup was hanging over his head. Thrass stood beside with his arms crossed over his chest, Theliv watched, his head bent to the shoulder. The Cadets were waiting for orders.  
Hux felt his ears burning like signal lights.  
He jumped, trying to climb onto the saddle, but failed.

"Need help, sir?" Theliv asked innocently.

“I can do it!” Hux climbed to the nearest stone, and, clumsily balancing, jumped. This time, he managed to grab hold of the bow and pull himself up, but could not get a leg over the fennie’s back. He was stirring helplessly, like a starfish, but still managed to roll over, puffing and fidgeting furiously.  
At last he sat down in the saddle and looked victoriously at his little detachment, but immediately discovered another problem - his legs did not reach the stirrups.

‘Hey, you!” he called as casually as possible, although his face became completely crimson from shame and effort. “Pull up the stirrups!”

Theliv obeyed silently. He lowered his head, but Hux was sure that the bastard was grinning.  
And there was nothing he could do about it.

“You will go ahead and show the way. I'll go next. Chiss will go behind, cadets will hold him at the gunpoint. All clear?”

“Yessir.” Theliv said something to Thrass and jumped into the saddle. The non-human measured Hux with a cold look, which gave him the goose bumps, but did not answer.”

Again there was a hitch. Everyone was waiting for something.

"I told you to go ahead," Hux hissed.

"I'm sorry, sir, I thought you'd move first. You're in charge here.”  
Hux thought that one of the Cadets chuckled. But this could not happen.

“Yes. Of course. I…”

He grabbed the reins and realized that he did not know how to control a fennie. These things always seemed easy to drive. He saw how Thrass pulled the reins to the left or right to turn, but how one can start the beast?  
He tried to pulled the reins. Nothing happened.  
He tried to pull to the right. The fennie just snorted.  
Hux felt tears gathering again, but restrained himself. Disgusting! Officers do not cry!

"Hit it with them heels and that will do", Theliv prompted finally. "By da way, his name is Auro. Mine is Argent.”

Hux gave him a murderous glance, and turned away.  
But obeyed.

 

***  
He kept thinking about Father all the time. What if he's hurt? What if he died? What if they took him prisoner?  
He felt miserable and guilty, as if he had summoned the trouble. He wanted to go home to Arkanis, to mama. No more dreams about becoming the Emperor, that everyone admired and praised. No more travelling. It was so good at home, so peaceful…  
No. If Father is alive, he won’t like such thoughts.  
If Father is alive, there is a hope that someday ... someday he will see what his son is really capable of, and he will say: "I've always been wrong, Armitage. But now I see you are a real Hux, a honor to our name". No more punishing. No more those things ... those "things that junior officers do to achieve high rank."  
Everything will be fine and together they will restore the Empire. And all these Solos and Skywalkers and Organas and other traitors will be tortured and tortured and executed! Hux himself will issue an order for this. He did not know how to do this, yet, but he planned to learn it soon. And to come up with a good torture.  
These thoughts calmed him, but there was something else.

"Who are the Red Suns? Is it a gang?”

"How observant you are. Sir. Them are slavers. Thrawn chases them all over the Empire, but each time they manage to sneak in again. And usually on Cliff. It is da closest planet to your territory ... by the way, what business dere? You do not look like colonists, too flashy for them scouts, too lost for them ambassadors”.

“It's none of your business. We have a special mission.”

“Aye-aye. As you say.” Theliv shrugged. "It's better not to know some thingies."

“Is this a big gang? These Suns ... hey!” Hux tried to stop the fennie and cautiously descend into the ravine, but Auro had a different opinion, and rushed down, jumping from stone to stone.

"Trust him, sir! They have better maneuver than your speeder" Theliv shouted. Hux didn’t answer, he just closed his eyes, squeezing his forehead against the hard mane.

Fennie was completely different from speeder, indeed: the speeder did not sway smoothly while driving through the forest, and did not break into the bushes to munch low hanging branches. And he did not try to catch reckless birds with his teeth.  
Hux refused to understand why people still ride animals. But there was no choice.

"So is this a big gang?" - he asked, once again taking the situation under control and tearing the fennie off the bush. Sometimes they had to travel around fallen trees, but the further they left the landslide, the calmer and more ordinary the forest became.  
And Father were left farther and farther behind...  
Hux tried not to think about it. He turned to Theliv, who has finally threw his hood back .  
"A whole syndicate. They always on the Cliff like weeds and..."  
Theliv stopped suddenly, looking at something ahead. "... they are expanding their territory all the time."

Hux followed his gaze and froze, too. On a thick branch, bent over the very path, the bodies hung. Silently, slowly turning around.  
Theliv raised the binoculars to his eyes.

“Rangers”.

“Let me see!” Hux reached for the binoculars. His own crashed in the fall.

"You’ll ‘ave plenty of them sights here, sir."

“But I…”

“Hush!" He raised his hand, and Hux stopped to his surprise. The air vibrated with the tension, only a bird repeatedly whistled the same melody, over and over again.

Thrass came silently behind him and whispered something. Theliv nodded, and Chiss, threw off his cloak, and easily, quitely climbed the nearest tree. He made his way to the bodies with perfect accuracy, groping for strong places in the interweaving of branches, never losing balance. This was supposed to cause admiration, but Hux was horrified. This machine of death can also slip in the shadows at night, and strangle ...  
“Kees'n!” Thrass shouted, sitting on the branch of the gallows like a gargoyle.  
Theliv exhaled.

“All clear. Let’s go”.

“Clear? What did he check?” Hux frowned. “Mines on the road?”  
“Yessir. My man can see in the infrared spectrum, heat radiaishun and all that. And we've seen a lot of traps here in them woods”.

As they approached, Thrass managed to cut the corpses off the branch and drag them to the roadside like ugly shrunken fruits. Two men and a female twi'lek. Rather, what's left of them.

"Why are they ... like that?" Hux swallowed, fearing that he would throw up.  
"They were doused with blue paint and their hands were cut off ... is this some sort of ritual?"

“It's a hint.” He looked at Thrass grimly. “It means they worked for the Hand of Thrawn. Rangers are licensed bounty hunters.”

“What? The scum get licenses?”

“It’s a thing in da Confederaishun - hunters, working for the state. Insurance, retirement money, all sorts of guarantees. They are not scum, they are da best ‘uns!”

Theliv was angry, Hux saw it clearly, and could not understand the matter.  
But Thrass was angrier. His scarlet eyes glowed. He said something, briefly and abruptly. Theliv nodded.

"We'll go ahead, he'll stay here for a while. Will take care of them.”

"Take care?" Hux did not like the arbitrariness of the chiss. He seemed to completely ignore his power and completely disregarded who is in charge here.  
"Them guys were warriors, sir. We must at least honor them and bury them properly.”

“No.” Hux tightened his reins. "I forbid it."

"Care to tell us why?"  
He liked this “us" even less. "We" means together against him, their commander.

"Because I'm in charge here! And ... do not you dare to shoot these glances and discuss my orders in his stupid language!”

"With all due respect ... sir, I must translate your order to Thrass, ya know."

"You said he understands intonation." Hux hung from the saddle, nose to nose with the Chiss. “I said “no”. Do you understand this, blue scum?”

Chiss looked at him silently. The fury in his gaze suddenly gave way to interest. He looked at Hux thoughtfully, and this look seemed to be no good either.

 _"Kt,"_ Theliv shook his head. Thrass nodded and again took his place in front of the cadets.

“Does it mean "no"?” Hux asked suspiciously.

“Yessir. You can tell him …”

“No, I will not speak in his stupid language! He will learn Basic. It was the first lesson! If he does not understand human language, I'll train him like a dog!”  
Theliv frowned.

“Thrass is an experienced warrior and …”

"He's non-human. While I am your commander, you do as I want!”

"Yessir," Theliv sighed.

They rode in silence. Hax felt comfortable for the first time in all this maddening day. He won this little battle.

But, when they set a camp, he had to surrender positions.  
Twilight caught them at the edge of the forest, further away the mountains smoothed into the hills. Hux jumped from the fennie stretching his aching legs ... and suddenly realized that all his possessions were a skinny backpack with rations. The cadets walked in full gear, for training, and he, hoping for less than a day's journey to Bankor, did not take a tent or a blanket. Just a first aid kit, food, in case they would have to share something with the half-wild locals, and the batteries for the blaster.  
He wanted to just fall face down and lie down until someone brought him to bed and tucked the blanket, as mama did.  
But now he had neither mama nor bed, not even a blanket. The officer must deal with any difficulties. The officer must not fall.

The cadets, removed their helmets and set up tents. Now they were easier to tell apart. CB-0830 and KT-1229 turned out to be twin girls, red-haired, like Hux himself, but with freckles. DR-1633 was a dark, long-nosed boy with bright, evil eyes.  
Theliv set up mini field power generators alongside and chatted with the cadets about something. Thrass went exploring again.

“Sybil, Katie and Derek you will be, allrighty?” - Hux overheard. He resolutely marched in their direction. The cadets immediately jumped up at attention.

“No! They do not deserve the names”.

“Dat’s for me”. Theliv connected another generator and rose, brushing off his knees. “Imma bad with them numbers”.

“And I think you're just sweet talk them.” - Hux turned to the cadets. “No talking to him without an order. Clear?”

“Ayeaye, sir!”

“We will function worse as a squad if no one can talk to anyone,” Theliv said. He annoyed Hux more and more. Although the idea with the names was not so bad ...

“I know how the squad works!”

“Then ... you have not appointed either sentries or attendants because you have a different plan? Sir.”  
Hux blushed.

“I'll appoint them now,” he muttered. - ”The duty officer is still not needed, we have individual rations.”

Theliv smiled.  
“Let us be on duty. I asked Thrass to bring something. For broth. Children need to eat well.”

Hux snorted, but said nothing.  
“Something” turned out to be some small fat animals, like overgrown rats. To the Hux’s horror, fennies devoured one zealously.  
Thrass threw the animals on a tarp, cleaned his hands with an antiseptic, and began to gut with a hunting knife. The skins peeled off the “rats” like gloves, the sight was both disgusting and wierdly attractive. But when Hux, who had eaten in the canteen of the Academy and on the ship for all his life, began to think about unsanitary conditions around...

“They can have parasites ... they surely have parasites!”, - he complained, standing behind Thrass and watching how he pulls wet shiny guts from another carcass.

“Do not worry, we will process ‘em properly“. Theliv was engaged in no less strange business than the gutting of animals, - he braided Thrass’ hair. And smiled. - “By da way, there is a river further, behind them bushes. The water is clean there, if you want to wash up …”

“There is nothing clean here,” Hux said, although he had dreamed of a fresher in the morning.

“And maybe give da comm to Thrass? He knows how to fix such things.“ Theliv removed fine strands of loose braids with such a gentle movement that made Hux feel uneasy. “He can even assemble a battle droid.”

“I can also assemble a droid. Small, and ... not very functional.“

Hux blushed. Is it allowed to talk to subordinates like this? Or is it already an insubordination? Just in case, he decided not to tell them about the award for first place in the young roboticists contest, although he really wanted to.

He also doubted a scavenger broth, and eventually gave his portion to a fennie. And decided to give comm away. If smugglers wanted to hurt him, they could have done it long ago.  
Therefore, he chewed the ration sadly and watched the cadets, looking for signs of poisoning. But the cadets felt great, and even asked for seconds.

“Here,” Hux sent Sybil with to the river with dirty plates and handed Thrass the comm. - “Fix it".

 _“Dai’secca,”_ Theliv said, blowing onto a mug of hot tea.

Thrass took the broken comlink into his right hand, and extended left hand without looking. Theliv, as if participating in some kind of ritual, pulled off his glove, and, to the Hux's surprise, connecting stitches lay across the blue fingers, from which thin needles immediately emerged.  
They embraced the comm, feeling, screwing, soldering ...  
Hux has never seen such a realistic and complex bionic arm. Usually, even the most ideal artificial limbs still looked unpleasantly dead, but the person who did the Thrass’ prosthesis even provided for the texture of the skin, even the lines of the muscles and veins.  
Are non-humans capable of this?  
No, it can not be. They just stole this technology from some human scientist, as they always do.  
A few minutes later Thrass silently handed the comm back. A green light flashed on the case intermittently and dimly, but Father’s frequency settings were not lost.  
Hux pressed the call button with a sinking heart, and did not wring out until he heard a familiar voice through the clutter.

“... rmitage. Report ... position”.

“Father!” - Hux shouted, barely holding back tears, but immediately corrected himself. - “Lieutenant Hux speaking. We're intact, moving to the destination point. You copy?”

“... liv. ...comm to Theliv”.

Hux obeyed, hiding a smile. Father is alive! Maybe not everything is in order, but he is alive. Maybe now he will understand that he can rely on such an independent son. He just need to do everything right.

“Theliv speaking. Go west so them mountains are at your left all the time. Meet us by da river. You copy?”

“By ... river ..." the comm hissed, and went dead, although the light continued to flicker. But nothing could spoil the Hux’s mood now.

He took a tent and a blanket from Katie, but just could not fall asleep from all this excitement. The earth was cold and hard even through an inflatable heated floor, thoughts were crawling in his head.  
Did Father understood everything? How much time does he have to think about a plan?  
In the end, he could not stand it and climbed out of the tent to a warm bonfire.  
Thrass sat under a tree, wrapped in a blanket, and read something from a datapad. Theliv settled down next to him, resting his head on his knees, his hood pulled to his very nose.  
Hux blushed. These two did nothing indecent, but for some reason he was ashamed to look at them. Normal people do not sleep like this and do not braid each other's hair. Do not touch each other ...well, no, they touch, but not in a different way, not in a special way.  
Hux himself could not stand when he was touched, especially his hair. Mom ruffled them, as if he was still a stupid kid, and Father ...  
In the depths of his soul, he hoped that Father would never touch him again when he would realize that he had raised an officer who does not have to do what others do to achieve something. Will no longer force him.  
No one else will ever touch him, they will not dare.

“Theliv …”

“Yessir?” - came from under the hood.

“When will we meet with Father’s squad?”

“In few days. But it depends. Go to Red Suns territory - lose your life maybe, go around - lose time for sho. You decide, sir. In the morning, if ya no mind”.

Hux silently climbed back into the tent. Go to the enemy territory or lose precious time? What to do?  
He was sure that he would not fall asleep that night.  
And then he fell asleep.

 

***  
Behind the hills covered with scorched grass, a wide plateau, flat as a table, laid again. Hux tried to look straight ahead, not gazing around. Wast spaces frightened him, like everything more open than ship compartments.

“We can still go the other way,” said Theliv. He looked pleased, and Hux could not understand why. There was absolutely nothing good about their position.

“No, we go straight. We can not waste time, Father will wait!”

“Those we saw yesterday are just scouts. If they have an army here ...”  
Hux gritted his teeth.

”Then, we’ll go faster.”

He wanted to go through the terrible hot wastelands as soon as possible, but gradually he realized that they have an advantage: the enemy can see them clearly, but they will also see the enemy. Both sides are in the same position. If one would, say, start up armored vehicles, such as AT-AT, it will easily crush the infantry, and if they send X-wings in response, then ...

“Sir?” - Theliv called.

Hux jumped a little.

“What?”

“Saddle sore? You bounce.”

Hux blushed.

“Watch yourself. Why are you so caring all of a sudden?”

“You are a kid. Sir.”

“I'm not a child!” - Hux puffed. - “I'm an imperial officer. I am a genius, so I was appointed commander. No need to take care of me!”

It was not entirely true. Gallius Rax just saw something in him. What exactly, Hux did not understand. But he hoped that the admiral somehow knew about his good grades and the gold star for his behavior.  
He thought that Father will see it too. That he will stop calling him a weakling and a mop, but it turned out the opposite. Now every blow and slap was accompanied by sarcastic: “since you are an officer now...”

“Yessir. No more caring. But if I violate this order, do not punish me too hard”.

Hux threw an angry look at him. He hated being laughed at.  
“Do we have to spend the night in the middle of nowhere?”

“There are Dancing Giants, you can't see ‘em from here”. - Theliv pointed to the horizon. “Temple or somephin. Giant stone pillars. If you are not afraid of them ghosts”...

“I'm not afraid of ghosts!” Hux snapped. “I'm not afraid of anything at all!”

Theliv was not impressed.  
“O’course, sir. Sho thing you will not be afraid even if I tell you the story of them howling cannibals. I don’t remember much of 'em details, but at night I'll try to.

Hux swallowed. He was afraid of ghosts a bit. And of cannibals. And snakes and big bugs, and some other things. Many other things. But it was impossible for a smuggler to find out!

“I will not waste my time on fairy tales. We are already moving too slowly!”

“We are being held up by infantry. But we can turn it into cavalry. further along there is New Bankor, them folks sell fennie there. Buy or steal a couple.”

“The Empire does not steal animals,” Hux said. His fennie yawned, perhaps in agreement.

“Dis Empire of yours does a lot of things that you don’t even imagine.” - Theliv narrowed his eyes. - “Sir.”

“You're just a scumbag from the Unknown Regions, you can't know anything.”

“I know enough. I served the Imperial navy for a long time.”

“So you are a scumbag and a deserter? “ Hux really wanted to grab a blaster and shoot the scavenger. For being too clever and talking about ghosts and being such a traitor. “Right. You called Father “commandant”, you've recognized his plaque!”

“I have not deserted. I carried out the order of my commander, and then they simply forgot about me.”

“You can not just stop serving the Empire!” - Hux frowned. “You should have continued your duty! Like Ganji Oto. After the Clone Wars he has lived in the jungle on Salamin for fifteen years and did not leave until he received an order from Emperor himself!”

“I had better things to do than sitting in the jungle.”

“But you are sitting on a stupid empty planet. What's the difference?”

Theliv snorted.

  
“Now the Empire is here with me. Ganji Oto! It's just a scam, I heard this story when I was a kid. But that time it was about an Old Republic”.

Hux frowned.

  
“It does not justify you. Deserter trash!”

Just in case, he drove away, showing his attitude, but he quickly became bored. He is used to Theliv: always ready to talk, always answering all questions. And never angry, not like Father and other officers.  
Shuttles flew over them several times, sometimes in the distance the sun flashed on the speeder's side. They were always ready to fight, but no one was interested in a small squad.

“The vultures flock together,” said Theliv. “Does yer pretty ship have good security? It seemd small.”

“It is full of military,” Hux snapped, feverishly wondering if he was not giving out some kind of secret. _Dignity_   was a “school” ship, where the cadets train. There were also stormtroopers, enough to hold off looters.

“Why aren't the Sun pursuing us? I would have caught up with the survivors and crushed on the spot!”

“Ya can ask ‘em. But I do not want ta, ya know. Maybe they thought that everyone is gone. Or that we went on the roundabout along with everyone, so they are not looking in this direcshun. If New Bankor is now theirs, we may have problems. So always keep your blaster ready."  
Hux nodded grimly.

“I am, already. I do not believe you.”

Theliv smiled and raised his hands.  
“You shoot well! It's dangerous to mess with you.”

Hux wished he had a baton, like a shtormtrooper. Just kicking a bastard was scary.

“You laugh at me one more time, and I will tell Father that you've tried to kill me, and he will shoot you.”

He himself did not believe in this threat, but he liked that Theliv became gloomy and silent.  
Hux felt guilty for a second. But only for a second.  
He is not guilty of anything. Theliv is guilty of being a lousy, brazen traitor.

They drove in silence. Trampled in one place - so it seemed to Hux. The landscape around did not change - the same haze on the horizon, brilliant puddles disappearing as soon as you approach them, a dry, hot wind.  
Now he could remove the tunic, no one would scold him. But for some reason, it seemed to him that Father would know somehow, as always. Or someone will report to him. The officer must always be alert.  
He even kept his hand on the blaster all the way to the Dancing Giants.


	3. Chapter 3

They reached the megaliths at sunset. The diverging circles of unevenly hewn Giants, three-meter stone pillars, cast long black shadows. Birds didn’t fly over them, the wind didn’t blow near them – just a coincidence, but Hux felt uneasy. While the detachment stopped, he slid down from the fennie, and sat in the shade, zoning out dully. During the day, nothing happened, but his whole body ached with fatigue, and the head felt like a box full of cotton.  
Hux recalled his little room at the Academy: a quilt (made by mom) on a soft bed, his own books, his own ships models, a stuffed ginger cat he was hiding from everyone. The Cat was also sewn by mom from the scraps of her old cloak. The Cat’s eyes were green buttons, and her mouth and nose were made with black stitches. Hux still secretly considered her his only friend.

And then he has left his only friend on Arkanis.

He wanted to get under mom's blanket, hug the Cat, and sleep, so in the morning it would all be a dream. But now he was an officer. And he must not get tired and afraid, so he got up, ordered the cadets to put up tents and make a fire, appointed a sentries, and ordered Theliv to offsaddle his fennie, because he had no idea how to do it.

“When I was a kid, I loved them scary tales near da fire. I think I remembered that one about the howling cannibals. Imma owe you it!” Theliv said cheerfully, unable to withstand the gloomy silence of the cadets chewing a dry ration.

Hux wrinkled his nose. It turned out to be painful - the nose burned in the sun and began to peel off.

“It’s foolish”.

“What, are you afraid?”

That was too much!

“Of course not! Go on, tell your stupid story! I do not care!”

Theliv turned to Thrass, who was sitting behind him (Hux noticed that Chiss was trying to stay away from the fire, as if it was too hot), and said something. Thrass smiled slightly and nodded.

_“Ash’we kuru.”_

“What did he say?” - Hux tensed.

“Just what it is - a good story. He likes it when I tell stories, I am good at it. Relax, sir, Thrass means no harm, he's not a Howling Cannibal. Listen. Once they lived in da Valley of the Skulls, where you crashed. Mayhap dem live there even now, just covertly. ‘Em folks say that ‘em Dancing Giants is their sacred place, and they kill everyone who trespass. Once, two mobsters walked by and decided to stay here for the night. At midnight they heard a terrible, wild howl...”

Hux swallowed and listened closely to the night, but the wasteland was quiet. The impenetrable darkness descended on it, the fire was the only source of light for miles and miles around. The darkness hid Thrass, only his red eyes glowed predatory.  
The only sound in the desert was the Tehliv’s voice and occasional rustle of the dry, dead grass.

“... then the savages grabbed the officer by them legs and cut him in half, and then tore him apart!”

The cadets, who seemed indifferent before, leaned forward. Hux didn’t like the excitement on their faces. He cringed, pulled his knees to his chest, but immediately straightened. Officer must not show his fear.

“We’d tear them apart by ourselves,” Kathie whispered. Sybil and Derek snorted and giggled as if she had said something funny.

“And how were they punished for it?” - Hux asked gloomily.

“The wounded pilot whom the officer left on the wasteland ...”

A dreary howl suddenly cut through the silence, and Hux involuntary uttered a high-pitched squeal.

“Is this ... is it them?!”

Theliv laughed.

“Them are just wild doggies, sir. Them are scaredy boys, them will not come closer.”

Hux rose with dignity, wrapped himself in a blanket like a robe.

“Your stupid tales are ... unnerving. Time to call it a day. No more stories!”  
He snorted and went into the tent, hoping that at night he would not want to go out.

And, of course, he did.  
He tossed and turned for a very long time, persuading himself that he didn’t really want to, angry with himself for drinking water before going to sleep, convincing himself that there was nothing wrong in the night and howling cannibals would not drag him away ...  
In the end, nature won. He climbed out of the tent and slipped behind the nearest stone pillar, with a flashlight.

The bonfire has long gone out, only dim lights sat on the coals. The wasteland was buried in complete, impenetrable inky darkness. The only source of light was the Thrass’ datapad screen, casting pale reflections on the Chiss's face.  
Hux didn't like this. What if a smuggler contacts someone at night? Someone like the Suns?

Hux tucked his shirt back into his trousers, fastened his belt, and strode toward Thrass, shivering from the cold. This time Theliv slept beside the Chiss on the ground, and Hux was secretly glad for it.

“What is it?” - Hux whispered, stretching his hand demandingly to the datapad.

Chiss looked at him in silence, expressionless.

“What are you doing there all the time? I need to know!” Hux was ready for the fact that the datapad would have to be taken away by force (and had no idea how to do it), but the Chiss did not resist. The entire screen was filled by narrow lines of text in an incomprehensible language. A book? A program?

Hux frowned.

“I confiscate …”

Thrass suddenly froze, staring into the darkness like a cat, not blinking.

“Hey! I'm talking to you”

“Sh!”

  
The Chiss rose in one swift motion, and...  
Hux did not even notice how it happened: he just suddenly realized that he was lying on the ground, hugging the glowing datapad to his chest. The last thing he saw before the screen went out was Thrass putting on the visor and removing the blaster from the holster.

What happened in the darkness, he did not know. In complete silence, one blaster shot was fired, blinding the night with a bright flash for a second. And that's all.  
Hux waited, but nothing happened. Seconds stretched painfully and terribly.

Why does not Thrass return? Did Howling Cannibals attacked and killed him? Theliv said they were moving silently ...  
Hux attempted for a flashlight ... and stopped. He was protected only by the force field and the fact that the enemy does not see him.  
Discarding the datapad, he crawled over to Theliv and shook him by the shoulder.

“Mmm?” The smuggler replied sleepily.

“Thrass... Thrass saw someone and disappeared! There was a shot! Someone attacked him!” Hux whispered quickly, clutching his shoulder.

“Oh, that...” Theliv yawned. “Do not worry, sir. This blocke circles around us since we left da gorge”.

“W… what blocke?” - Hux turned paler than usual.

“Let’s find out“. - Theliv sat up, stretched, shook his head, recovering from his sleep. Then he rekindled a fire in the light of a flashlight.

“Why didn't you report to me ?!” Hux hoped that would turn out menacingly, but knew he sounded whiny.

“Sorry, sir. My bad. Thrass and I, we used to work alone.“

There was no guilt in Theliv’s voice. And if Hux had not been scared to death, then ... what? The smugglers haven’t really obeyed him, he knew that. If it were not for the cadets and their guns, if not the promise to repair the ship, they would be long gone.

He had no idea how to make them obey.

“Always report to me. Always! Or I will tell my father that you are traitors!”

Theliv yawned again.

“But your father may not reach the meeting point. What will ya do then?”

Hux closed his mouth so abruptly that his teeth rattled. He did not think about it. For some reason he was sure that since his father did not die in the rubble, nothing threatened him anymore.

“I ... I ...” Hux gritted his teeth to stifle the tears, but the world around him became blurry. “I am the officer of the Empire! Admiral Sloan will punish you!”

“O’course, sir!” Theliv agreed suddenly, too quickly. “Do not think about it. Your father is not in danger, he is an experienced military, he has a detachment, yes? If they go as I said, they will not get lost, and soon you will meet again. And we will bring you to him safe and sound, I promise”.

Hux looked up at him incredulously. The smuggler looked ... worried. He was afraid of the Admiral Sloane? So, the threat worked, after all.  
Hux tried to wipe tears unnoticed, pretending to yawn, but fortunately, Theliv turned the other way — Thrass turned off the force field and entered the circle of light. Some thin, gray humanoid creature, dressed in a dusty sleeveless jacket and frayed pants, dangled from his shoulder.  
Thrass placed the creature on the ground, and in the light of the fire, Hux saw a long face with a lipless mouth, three pairs of squeezed eyes, short black hair on the head and ears twisted like conch shells. A non-human’s throat was squeezed by the collar with some sensors, the wrists and ankles were firmly tied with straps. Tattoos snaked and curled all over the gray body.  
Theliv crouched beside the creature and touched the collar.

“See the red circle here? Emblem of the Suns”.

“Is it their soldier?” - Hux carefully approached closer.

“Looks exhausted...” Theliv asked Thrass something, the Chiss shook his head.

“No weapons. A runaway slave probably”.

“What is he?”

“The local guy. They call themselves “yiirn”. Should I wake up ki...  
stormtroopers?

“No.” Hux tensed. He waited all his life for this moment, dreamed of it. He will interrogate the enemy! Of course, this creature is not really the enemy ... no! Every non-human is an enemy, or is about to become one.

He kicked a slave under skinny ribs. Small eyes flew open, blinked out of sync, and stared at Hux. He suppressed the desire to recoil.

“Do you speak basic?” - he asked.

The prisoner was silent. Hux kicked him again. Yiirn’s face distorted, his mouth stretched out, exposing his small, sharp teeth.

“He is a former slave, a tough guy” Theliv said. “Maybe you have an electric whip?”

“Of course not!”

“Then let's try another way”. He leaned toward the prisoner. “Do not play games, only the northern tribes do not communicate with the colonists, everyone else knows the language. We are not with the Suns, so if you answer our questions, we will let you go. If we like the answers, we will give you some food. If you don’t answer, we decide that you are a spy and need to be executed. Am I right, lieutenant?”

“Yes,” Hux answered, trying to keep himself stern and officer-like. - “I wanted to say the same thing”.

Yiirn looked at both of them at the same time, but with different pairs of eyes. It made Hux sick.

“Apshssk” the hiss finally came from the lipless mouth.

Hux's heart beat fast. The first interrogation! But where to start?

“Are you from here? From these lands?” He asked, and immediately thought that the question was strange, that according to the rules he should start with something else ... a name?

“Frrrst Krrdon”.

“Cardon Forest,” Theliv translated. “It's near the New Bankor. Look, we go the same way. Are you coming home?”

“I’am asking questions here! - Hux blushed with anger. “You ... are you coming back home?”

“Home. Yes."

Hux stopped again. He should come up with questions in advance! It is always necessary to think in advance!

“Why are you following us?”

“Gunsss. Food."  The prisoner threw his head back, looking hostilely at Thrass with the third pair of eyes. “But Scshisss not sssleep“.

“And ... did you run away from the Red Suns?”

Yiirn bared his teeth, yellow eyes filled with blood.

“Nhsssrtsh no! Rd Sssun. No frndssss! No sssslave!”

“Did not want to work in the mines. So they sold a new batch of slaves to some miners...” Theliv frowned. “Interesting”.

Hux did not ask what was so interesting.

“Do you have a name?” - he asked.

“... Khriish,” - the captive hissed slowly.

“All right, Khriish. Were you caught in your forest?” Hux asked, and noticed that Theliv was looking at him in a strange way ... approvingly?

“Frrst Krrdon. Scnd wife, children leave. I am Red Sssun.

“His second wife and children ...”

“I do not need your translation, I'm not a fool!” Hux snapped. He wanted to add:  
“And don’t look at me like that”, but he couldn’t explain how or why. “Are the Suns in the New Bankor?

“Pple are people’s busnssss,” Khriish said scornfully, shrugging his shoulders.

“Then where did you run from?”

“Jiinj Haani. Ppshshkon”.

“Went on foot from Haani Base”, Theliv could not be silent. “Former transit point of the Suns. So they’ve restored it …”

“Went night. Always frrrst. A week.”

Hux pulled Theliv by the sleeve, to his side.

“Is he lying?” he whispered. “Is this base so far from here?

Theliv leaned toward him to hear better.

“All this seems true. Few hours on a speeder, but at this pace he would have to walk for about a week. There are forest and mountains near Haani - Yiirn are hunters, they can hide there”.

“How do you know all this?” It suddenly occurred to Hux that he doesn’t know absolutely nothing about Theliv and Thrass. They are smugglers, they need to repair the ship, Theliv is a deserter ... that’s all. They also had soldier rations, and imperial weapons. How did they get on this planet? How long are they here?

“There was a war,” Theliv answered shortly. - “I’ve told you. Do not you want to ask him what mine did he worked at?”

Hux puffed.

  
“What for? I do not think this is important”.

“Then let me ask. Just curious”. Theliv turned to Khriish.

“Do you know where exactly you were taken? What mines?”

Yiirn nodded.

“Doon”.

“Doon”? Hux frowned. “What's this?”

He looked inquiringly at Theliv, and in the darkness it seemed to him that he was scared. Thrass looked at him tensely, not blinking.

“Dunium,” Theliv answered, looking into the fire. “You're right. Useless information”.

***

Khriish didn’t say anything worth knowing, and Hux decided to let him go. He ordered Thrass to share his food with Yiirn. He thought that the non-humans should stick together, and not poke into human society. Let them save each other!

Thrass did not mind. But, as always, it was not clear what he was thinking.  
Hux managed to sleep only for a couple of hours, but he didn’t feel drowsiness, only the same terrible fatigue and the desire to shower. He didn’t care about the first green grass and the hills growing closer. He just wanted to lie down and lie in the cold for all day, not moving.

To restrain himself, he rode to Theliv again.

“Czerka Arms is a corporation that makes weapons for the Empire. So it is on our side. Did you fight with them against Thrawn? Are the Suns working for Czerka?”

Theliv sighed.

“What, I'm not a nasty deserter anymore?”

“No, you're a deserter. A vile one. But I need to know”.

“Oh well. Czerka roots for one team - its own, the Suns work for everyone who pays. I fought for Thrawn. Alliances are created and break apart very quickly  here, sir”.

“Why Thrawn? He is a traitor”.

“He did not betray anyone! He served the Empire faithfully for so many years, he sometimes went against his heart to bring you your precious victory, did any shit you would ask! And that's how you pay him!” Theliv suddenly snapped angrily. “Nothing but imperial tales in the imperial heads, huh! You see only what they want to show you”.

“And a lousy smuggler sees more, of course!” Hux squeezed the reins. - “Is your Chiss also a traitor of his kind?”

“My Chiss is doing what the duty dictates, sir,” Theliv said, and turned away.

Hux turned to see if someone had heard their conversation, and met the Thrass’ stare. It seemed to him that the Chiss was smiling, but from such a distance it was impossible to understand anything over his impassionate face.

 _“No one respects me,”_ Hux thought, and felt very depressed.

When they’ve stopped to rest, he ordered the cadets to do fifty push-ups, just to feel better. The cadets, at least, did not argue and always obeyed.  
And they did not hide anything from him.  
He stood over them, fearing that if he relax, he simply would not be able to climb on fennie anymore. And besides there was nowhere to sit down - the sun was scorching from all sides, even the hot, dry land breathed heat.

“Will we be there soon?” He discontentedly asked Theliv, who fed fennie grain from a bag.

“We will climb the hill, and there it will be,” he answered without turning. He looked offended and hurt. But do adults get hurt? Hux thought about it, picking a crack in the ground with his boot. Adults were angry with him, they hated him, but no one was seemed so genuinly hurt by his words. For some reason he felt ashamed.

“Is something wrong?” He asked gloomily. “You have no right to be offended! I told the truth”.

Theliv looked at him strangely, as if sad.

“None taken. Almost. You are just an imperial child and repeat everything adults tell you, this is a common thing. But now that the Empire has fallen, you need to learn to look at things as they are”.

“You forgot “sir”. Hux still restrained himself and did not kick him for his attitude, although he really wanted to. “But ... how do you know that the Empire has fallen?”

“News fly quickly”. Theliv shrugged. “Besides, if it recruit kids as soldiers, then things gone bad fo sho”.

“Admiral Gallius Rax said that the Empire needs children, because this is the future!”

“O’course, o’course. Sir. This is not at all because they want to grow obedient slaves, and they have no money for an army of clones. The future it is”.

Hux recalled how Father threw him in a dark room with a crowd of murderers who were following his every move. Obedient slaves! The smuggler did not know anything about the new Empire.  
Theliv removed the bag from the frustrated fennie’s face and knelt down, twisting his fingers in front of his chest.

“Time, sir. Lemme help.”

Hux gritted his teeth but complied. Theliv has already given him a hoist before, and every time Hux tried very hard not to smile, because he liked it when the smuggler threw him easily into the saddle. It was... fun.  
But Theliv still remained a deserter and a nasty traitor. A bad person he couldn’t trust.

***  
The hills seemed more like mountains now. Fennie climbed them easily, or rather jumped up the slope. Theliv sat in the saddle like a natural-born rider, raising himself up in the stirrups in time not to beat anything off and Hux was thrown up and down, winding, beating on a fennie’s hard back.

Now, he would give in fennie to Thrass with a great pleasure, but the status was more important, and the Chiss clearly didn’t mind; he ran upward quickly and easily, like a wild beast, leaving behind tired, dirty cadets, as if he had not walked with them all this time. Like it was some delightful stroll.  
Theliv often looked back at him and smiled, although Hux didn’t see anything amusing.

Hux became sick of this planet. The day heat, and night cold, clinging dust, dirty water that flows directly from the ground. Germs everywhere, the sharp smell of fennie’s sweat, mixing with his own.  
Disgusting. And lonely. Worse than usual.  
He missed Father - in this world of strangers and terrible adults, Father could protect him from everything. So what if he was strict! There is no army without severity and discipline. Father was always right. And he knew so much ... and when he was in a good mood, he spoke about the great generals of the Old Republic.  
Not about some Howling Cannibals.

 _“I want to go home,”_ the low, tearful voice whined inside. - _“I want to be with Father! I want my mom! I want to be clean! I am hungry!"_

But he must not listen. Hux knew that if he pay attention, he would burst into tears, and then the smugglers and cadets would understand that he was weak and would kill him.

“Lieutenant!” - Theliv waved to him from the top of the hill. - "A little more!"

Hux gritted his teeth and spured the fennie.

He climbed the mountain, clinging to the hard, furry neck of the beast ... and froze.  
Below, between green hills and forested mountains, among flat squares of fields and metal tiers of greenhouses, a town lay snuggly, like in a cup. Shadows of fluffy clouds slid across the lush, bright grass, the wind carried the sweet smell of flowers from somewhere, the river glistened in the sun. This was beautiful.

Hux thought that this planet might not even be hopeless.

“New Bankor.” - Theliv smiled. - “Beautiful, right? I love this place, it never ceases to brighten the spirits. Never.”

Thrass approached him and also stopped, arms crossed over his chest. Now Hux saw for sure that he, too, was smiling, albeit quite a bit. He said a long phrase, referring only to Theliv. Theliv nodded and answered shortly.  
Hux didn’t like it as always, but this time there was no threat in their negotiations.

“What did he say?” - He still had to ask. Just in case.

“That people o’ Cliff are proud and stubborn. The war took everything away from them, the Confederaishun even offered them to resettle on another planet where the workers were needed, where life was not so hard. But they refused. There was nothing in this valley, just mud and stones, and they turned it into an oasis.” - Theliv stretched out his hand towards the valley. “And it doesn’t seem that the Suns or Czerka is here.”

He raised his binoculars to his eyes.  
“Not a single shuttle, not a single battle droid. Their land speeders are also not visible. We are lucky sir. Today you will sleep in a warm bed.”

“But ...” Hux frowned. He really, really wanted to have a cozy bed, but he had the duty of an officer. Duty to Father and Empire. - “We can not, we need to hurry.”

“Fennie for everybody, and we will gain time.”

“I prefer a speeder” .

“Well, sir,” Theliv smiled. “No one dere, will sell you ‘un, speeders in such backwater places worth its weight in gold. What, do you dislike fennie?”

“The speeders don't kick out,” Hux answered darkly, squeezed his eyes tightly and began to descend into the valley.

***

Droids worked in the fields: they watered, cut, sprayed. Their quiet buzz merged with the chatter of insects. Hux had never seen food grown in the open, where any filth could stick to it.  
He lived on this planet for several days, but could not overcome disgust. Who needs all this nature, when you can create a whole world on a ship, calm and sterile!  
Although, some things looked good. For example, large yellow flowers on tall stems. Bright, turning heads in one direction, like soldiers in a parade ...  
He stopped and grabbed Theliv by the sleeve.

“There is something shiny! In the flowers!” - he hissed, and immediately thought it was very stupid, there is just a droid, and Theliv will laugh at him or get angry ...

But Theliv froze. He defiantly threw back his cloak and put his hand on the blaster.  
Hux turned around cautiously. Thrass and cadets also stood with blasters at the ready. No one laughed at him.

“So?” - Theliv asked loudly. - “You certainly have a favorable position, but the stormtroopers have a higher fire density. Come out, let's talk.”

After a second pause, the flowers rustled, and two green-skinned twi’lekks, a woman and a young boy, emerged from the undergrowth. Behind them, two fennies strode.  
Twi’lekks were not dressed as military, they looked like farmers. And their blasters were ancient, overheating in five shots. But they did lower them.

“You're not from the Red Suns,” the woman said. She was not old, but her face was cut by deep wrinkles and arrogant folds, and the shadows darkened under her yellow eyes, as if she had not slept for many nights. “Who are you?”

Theliv rolled the sleeve and activated the bracelet on his wrist. Thrass did the same. A holographic print - the silhouette of a five-tower fortress against the background of the starry sky - hung over bracelets, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow.

“Confederation Rangers. - Theliv smiled. - “At your service, ma'am.”

Hux opened his mouth to argue, but suddenly realized that he was not lying.  
Everything fell into place: cloaks, weapons, anger at the Suns.  
The holographic print was replaced by the face of a human man: unpleasant one, with a long hooked nose and contemptuously pursed lips. In his left eye-socket, he had a creepy cyber-prosthesis, the pupil in it tossing about, as if searching for a prey.

“Have you seen this man?” - Theliv asked. His strange accent faded completely.

The young twi’lek nodded hesitantly.

“This is Locke. He commands them.”

“Them?”

“You have to come with us,” Twi’lekk woman holstered her blaster. “We need rangers, we need everyone who can hold a weapon.” Her gaze lingered on Hux. “Even children.”

“I'm not a child. I am an imperial officer!”

She clearly did not understand what it meant, and only shrugged. Hux blushed. Stupid non-humans! Contempt for the Empire in their blood!

“We just need more fennies,” he snapped. - “I do not care what problems do you have there, we need to hurry!”

“Shut up, little boy, I'm talking to a ranger,” the twi’lek brushed him off. Hux choked with indignation.

“How dare you?!”

“The lieutenant is right,” Theliv interrupted . “We have a couple of days left, but if Locke is not in the New Bankor, we will not be able to help.”

“He will be there. If you wait, he will come to you.”

“This is more interesting. - Theliv looked inquiringly at Hux. “Can we just hear them out, Lieutenant?”

Hux squinted in displeasure.

“We can.”

He understood that he had no choice. No local money, no guide. And, in fact, Theliv can dictate terms to him.

He was offended. All the way to the New Bankor, he pouted silently, but quickly realized that such a strategy would not work.

“You said that you are scavengers! You lied!” He finally said. It turned out too offended, too childish.

“I just did not say what kind of garbage we collect”. - Theliv smiled. - “We thought to clean up a gang of Jubee Locke’s scum.

“Just the two of you?”

“What can I say, we are good!”

Hux thought he was lying again. Surely! But he could not understand where the lied hid this time. Everything sounded so smooth and believable!

“You can’t believe no one,” he thought. And suddenly, for some reason, he felt very sad.


	4. Chapter 4

Hux has never been to such tiny cities as New Bankor before. Only one wide street and some alleys, typical colonist houses, as in the textbook. Grocery store, cantina, bank, some other buildings that he could not identify. Everything were shabby, old, dusty and miserable - what did Thrass and Theliv admire so much?

The colonists also looked poor and miserable. Such a motley rabble could be seen probably only in some of the rebels group: people, Twi'leks, Zabraks, Rodians, Tolotians. They left their houses, peeked out of the windows, stopped their affairs and stared! Hux was uncomfortable with their looks, scared even. He wanted to command the cadets to pull out the blasters, to make a couple of warning shots into the air, so that the mob would not dare to mess up!  
But the scum stood silently, not trying to attack.  
Children were the worst, as these brats at the Academy, who just giggled and whispered and probably told each other some nasty things behind his back...  
He would love to shoot them all so they would stop doing it.  
Reyr, the Twi'lek woman, led them to the Town Hall, a long building with a sloping iron roof, built as if from the remnants of a Correlian cargo ship.  
Another green female Twi'lek came out to meet Reyr: either they were twins, or Hux simply couldn’t them from one another.  
She squinted at them.

“You’ve not gone far,” she told Reyr, and it sounded cold. “Who are they?”

“These are Rangers, Keira.” Reyr crossed her arms over her chest. With guns and a true grit.”

“Eight Rangers have entered the gorge. We dug five graves. Three corpses Red Suns left hanging as a warning. What do you think they will do to these six?”

“Actually, we were going to buy fennies and leave.” Theliv said, dismounting. “But we can at least listen to your sad story.”

“Red Suns want to seize our land.” Reyr clenched her fists. “Meju and I went to Ard-Arnis to find the Rangers, but ...”

“But it’s pointless, because we’re leaving,” Keira finished.

“You can not decide it alone! I brought the Rangers, and everything changed!” Reyr shoved Meju. “Go, warn everyone about the meeting! Now!”

Hux frowned. He did not know how it was done by the Twi’lekks, but it looked like obvious disobedience. The civilians had no idea about the chain of command!

“Everyone should obey the mayor. If this is the mayor,” Hux whispered to Theliv. “Why do not they obey?”

Theliv sighed.

“It is difficult, sir. Let's see what happens here.”

“What for? Let them go if they have already decided!”

“But if they leave, they'll take all the fennies with them.”

Hux sighed. In fact, he wanted only one thing - to sleep.

 

***

The whole town seemed to be crammed in the Town Hall. Hux was at a long table, crammed between Tehliv and Thrass, the cadets stood behind them.  
It was noisy, hot, it smelled of sweat, but Hux almost came to terms with it. He even accepted the fact that his legs dangled above the floor and the table was too tall. If only it all ended soon.

“We have to leave!” - Keira stood at the head of the table with her arms folded. - “This is a certain death, and we are not soldiers.”

“But this is our land!” - a Zabrak shouted from the other side. - “They came for the work of our lives”

“They don't need our fields and farms. Locke talked about the base in the mountains.”

“The base?” Theliv frowned.

“The base and mines.”

“Is there a dunium vein here?”

Reyr squinted suspiciously.

“How do you know?”

“Just a wild guess. When will they return?”

“In five days. They have soldiers, they have droids - if we don't leave, we will have to fight. And we can't leave!” Reyr stood up and glared at everyone in the room. Hux cringed in fear, though he convinced himself that it had nothing to do with him.

“We can't leave. This is our land. Once we were Czerka colonists, and they showed us what it means when you have a master. They burned everything to the ground! Now we are free people! I have a letter from Emperor Thrawn, I read it to all of you so many times! The Emperor, may the Force be with him, wrote that we are free and we can count on the help and protection of the Confederation! And now the Rangers came!”

“We came for Jubee Locke,” Theliv said. “But if there is no other way to take him...”

Hux frowned. He did not allow it!

“We have almost no weapons, and the Rangers are too few,” Keira objected. - “I don’t think of a child and three teenagers as fighters. This is suicide, this is impossible.”

“Not at all,” a deep, calm voice said suddenly over Hux’s ear.  “It is not simple, yes. But not impossible also.”

Hux turned slowly.

“The losses will be great,” Thrass continued. “Therefore, only you can decide if the community is ready for them. The Rangers will support you, and as for the soldiers of the Empire ... I would suggest Lieutenant Hux not to miss the opportunity. Troops need a real combat experience.”

Hux looked into his burning eyes as if hypnotized, he did not even notice how he nodded.

He wanted to agree with this soft, soothing voice. It seems true for the Bankorians too.

“Well... maybe we will be able to fend off one wave,” said the dark-skinned man opposite the Thrass, doubtfully. “And if they besiege us?”

“Cleef and Bankor are not the only ones who suffered them,” Thrass continued. “During these several months, my friend and I assembled a pattern of attacks. Suns are in a hurry, they need dunium urgently. Therefore, they do not count on a long siege and resistance.”

“You have one chance,” Theliv said. His lazy accent has never returned, even his tanned face and warm hazel eyes has changed, become more stern. - “But this is enough. They will break their teeth and go look for an easier prey. And even if they return, the message will reach the Hand of Thrawn. You are part of the Confederation and can count on its help.”

The crowd boomed again.

“Promises!” Keira snapped contemptuously. “How do you know? Maybe Thrawn doesn’t care about a village on the Force forsaken world! Or are you lounge around drinking tea with him? Can you ask him anything?”

Theliv grinned, as if he had heard a terrific joke.

“They say he still does not know how to make a good tea.”

“The Supreme Commander Thrawn personally sent us for Jubee Locke. He is particularly interested in the extermination of the Suns,” Thrass replied. “His heart is with everyone who fights for the Confederation, no matter what world it is. His help is guaranteed.”

There was a respectful silence. It seemed that the name of Thrawn is sacred here.

“We have to fight!” Reyr said loudly, taking advantage of the moment. “The Emperor wrote to me once, in the past. And his letter says that if everyone could fight back as Bancor did, the Confederation would become invincible! If we stop now, then we are defeated. From that day anyone can come and take everything from us! You want such future? You can leave now!”

“Everyone who wants to have any future, come with me,” Keira echoed. - “Tomorrow morning”.

The crowd slowly began to dissipate. And Hux understood what he got into. Understood, and froze in horror. He needed to do something ... something ...  
He yanked Thrass’ long black strand so that he would not get up.

“Why did you pretend?!”

Thrass did not even flinch, but his red eyes narrowed.

“The position of the observer is advantageous. People quickly lose caution, assuming that one who cannot hear or speak is safe”.

“You spied on us!”

“I watched.”

“Same thing! Why did you do that?!” Hux was scared, as if he were holding a wild desert puma on a leash, and this puma was about to lose patience.”

“I was wondering how much the imperial soldiers differ from those Theliv spoke about.”

“In my times, stormtroopers were definitely taller. As the senior officers,” said Theliv. “Careful, sir. Thrass doesn't like being treated like this.”

“And I don't care what he likes!” Hux squeezed Chiss’ hair tighter. “Imperial affairs are none of your business! Got it? Non-human scum!”

“I understand your feelings, lieutenant. But consider this: I had many opportunities to harm you, but I did not take advantage of them and do not intend to. You may let me go.”

“I decide when to let you go!” Hux snapped, but there was something under the surface of this calm, soothing voice, that made him hastily unclench his hand.  
“Both of you are traitors and trash. And you always lie!”

He turned away so that the traitors would not notice how his lips were trembling.

 _“Shut up!”_ He told himself. _"Do not cry! You always suspected them! You’ve never expected anything good!”_

But for some reason he was terribly hurt.

***

Reyr invited them to stay at her place, and Hux hastily agreed, fearing that someone would be ahead of him and a position of power would be lost.  
He did not like the house: it smelled strange, the second floor, built over the colonist's module, was made of creaky wood, and it was dusty and noisy in the backyard — there were some living creatures screaming and cackling. The fat bird even tried to pinch Hux through the grille, but was immediately punched in the beak.  
Hux was going to show everyone the discipline of Empire.

He ordered Reyr to provide him with a better room than the others, explaining that he was an officer and generally higher in rank. True, every room seemed equally miserable, but the one he got had a soft bed with a quilt, and the fresher was next door, so he did not complain. The cadets settled with Reyr’s younger son, a skinny, silent twee...ton (or whatever little Twi’leks was called there) who didn't like it at all.

“This is my brother’s room,” he declared, standing on the threshold and frowning at Hux.

“And now it is mine.” Hux looked back as gloomily. “Soon, there will be nothing left of your town and your home, so why bother?”

Twi’lek said nothing and ran away. Hux considered the battle won.  
After the fresher, he felt right again. As an “officer and gentleman,” like Father used to say.  
He felt a little sad too. How is Father? Is he alive? Maybe he fixed his comm?  
He tried to call, but there were nothing, just a static noise.  
 _“Let everything be okay!”_ He pleaded to no one in particular, because he didn’t believe in anyone or anything. _“Let Father come back and take me to Dignity! I'll never think bad of him again, never ever!”_  
Father had already took him from Arkanis once. Saved him from the Rebels.

“And if he is disappointed in you and leaves you here?” Asked an inner voice that never lied. “You did not understand that Chiss is a spy and did not understand that everyone is lying to you! Does Father need such a worthless son?”  
Hux knew he doesn’t. But still, he hoped.

Reyr had a long wooden table in the kitchen, and everyone was having dinner there. Hux remembered that they had the same custom with mom, because they had no dining room. He stroked the table surreptitiously, even sniffed it, and still could not believe that so much wood was spent on nonsense, which could easily be made of plastic.  
He ate with caution, because it was unlikely that vegetables and meat were processed as carefully as on the _“Supremacy”_ hydroponic farms - even the familiar food had a different, unusual taste.  
Maybe nonhumans mixed something in there, because he was beginning to doze at the table. He only closed his eyes for a minute ...

“Well, your son fell asleep.”

Theliv laughed and answered something, but Hux didn't remember what exactly...

 

***

  
He jolted and woke up suddenly, and realized that he overslept.  
The sun was shining through the window, and the sounds of engines, fennies and human voices mixed in the morning air. Hux jumped out of bed and realized that someone not only carried him upstairs, but also dressed him in white pajamas a couple sizes larger. The folded uniform laid in a chair, cleaned and ironed.  
He grabbed it trying to simultaneously get his foot into the trouser leg and look outside the window. Reyr's house stood on a hillock, and from the second floor he could see a string of refugees stretched between the fields. Fennies, speeders, and many, many people.

“Who will remain then?” Hux thought and recalled, in horror, that he fell asleep and did not give the cadets any orders. He didn’t even knew whether they were well fed and quartered. Stupid! Stupid!

He dressed somehow, ran out of the room, pulling on his boots as he went, and nearly fell. Running down the stairs to the kitchen, he imagined that the Rangers had abandoned him and left on their own ranger affairs, but Theliv and Thrass were sitting at the table, drinking caf, and Reyr was showing them something on a large holographic map hovering over the projector.

“... yes, the river will not dry out for a long time ... look who’s up!”. Twi’lek smiled over the map. “Sit down, dear”.

Hux wanted to get angry at the “dear”, but said nothing. Relief nearly knocked him off his feet.

“Good morning, lieutenant.” Thrass nodded to him. “Stormtroopers are the porch. Ready and awaiting orders. Will you join us?”

Hux blushed and climbed onto the chair next to Theliv.

“Uh huh ... is this a New Bankor map?”

“Exactly”. Thrass lowered the map slightly so that he could see better. “Where do you think the weakest point of defense will be?”

Hux frowned. The ranger addressed him as an adult, but the question was more like some kind of test.The test an imperial officer could not fail, it was unthinkable to disgrace Father!

“You can eat and think at the same time”. Reyr set a bowl of hot white porridge and a large mug of blue milk in front of him. It was completely inappropriate during the war council, but Hux was terribly hungry.

The weakest point... the main street? Wide, but it can be blocked. The lanes too. Farmhouses? But they can be sacrificed for the town. So what remains? Nothing.  
Nothing but...

“Air. They can just fire at the town from shuttles of fighters”.

  
“True,” Theliv grinned. “So we need to bring them down to earth. Is there a force field generator that can cover the whole place?”

Reyr shook her head.

  
“Only anti-predator fences, not enough to make a chain”.

“We don't need a chain. Only a speeder with a cargo anti-gravity platform and a few people capable of dismantling equipment.” Thrass poured some more caf into Theliv’s mug.

“And we have to send them ... where, ranger?”

Theliv brightened and snapped his fingers. He understood.

“To the star destroyer, rusting near the Valley of Skulls. We examined it, some shields are more or less intact, if you dismantle the field generator and supply energy to it, that will be enough. We can hardly cover the whole town, but …”

“All houses are modular,” Hux shrugged. “Nothing special”.

Reyr gave him a scolding look. Hux frowned and was ready to show her her place, but Thrass intervened.

“We saw droids in the field. Do you have more of them?”

“Yes, we have some, but what of it?”

“Can you gather people in half an hour? And specify whether there is a chief mechanic among them” Theliv said exchanging looks with Thrass. Hux did not understand what was happening - the Rangers seemed to have some kind of telepathic connection. And he really didn't like it.

 

Truth to be told, he could make a whole list of the Very Big Annoying Problems.  
The first problem: there are only fifty people left in the town, not counting the children. Too little - but the rangers didn't seem to care.  
The second problem - Thrass.  
Since he has begun to speak, Hux felt lost. But he could not complain about anything. Chiss told him most of the plans, constantly asked for his opinion, called him “lieutenant” ... but everything just felt wrong. As if Thrass was actually higher in rank, even without uniform and plaques.

“I don't like you,” Hux said bluntly, looking up into his glowing eyes. - “I'm watching you”.

Thrass wasn’t impressed.

“I cannot influence your opinion, but I will try not to disappoint you even more, sir,” he answered calmly.

The third problem - Theliv. Hux used to think that Thrass obeys Theliv because he is non-human. But it turned quite the opposite.  
This foolish telepathy of theirs continued to work, as if they even became alike when they thought in unison: equally restrained, cold.  
Hux dragged along with them throughout the village, listening to strange fragmentary dialogues:

“You think, it will be on the left ...?”

“By all means”.

“I figured out the height. Not too dangerous?”

“This is an extreme measure.”

Hux felt like a stranger next to them. He calmed down a bit only when Thrass told him the essence of the plan and asked for permission to perform. It was pleasant, because he did not laugh and did not look down upon him like other adults. He said “sir” seriously.  
Hux also thought that Thrass was secretive, and Theliv was talkative. But it was also wrong.

“I would like to train the first squad, sir. If you do not mind” Theliv asked.

“Good”. Hux nodded. “Then I will train the second”.

“Thrass asked me to convey that he would need to constantly coordinate all decisions with you, so ... maybe we’d better assign Derek to train the second group?”

“DR-1633? He's just a cadet!”

“He had his own gang on Jakku. A successful one. Can we give him a chance?”

Hux and froze with his mouth open. He’d never heard about it.

“How do you know?”

“He himself told that once. While you were sleeping, sir”.

“But I forbade them to talk to you!”

Theliv shrugged. He knew how to make a completely impenetrable face when he wanted. Like Thrass.

“He told that to girls, not to me. You did not forbid them to talk among themselves. I watched him, it is clear that he is an intelligent guy. You will need junior officers in the future, why not give him a chance, sir?”

Hux gave in reluctantly, because controlling Thrass seemed more important.

 

The fourth problem - children.  
Hux hated other children. And he knew that they hate him.  
He settled on the “Dignity” because the Cadets were obliged to obey him. But in this disgusting town in the middle of nowhere no one listened to him, everyone laughed at him, and at the training (Hux reluctantly taught this motley, undisciplined company how to behave during artillery shelling and where to run) one nasty dark-haired boy began to mimic him and call him names.  
Hux had his way to talk with cadets, so he just walked over to this freak (who seemed weaker than him) and punched him swiftly and surely, so that blood spurted from broken nose.  
The boy wailed and ran away, half the “detachment” deserted with him, and then it was time for humiliation: a huge angry farmer came for Hux, stomping loudly, grabbed him by the ear and dragged all the way to Theliv. Hux blushed in pain and humiliation, but did not cry. The officer can not cry in front of the village rabble! The officer must endure the pain!

“Your brat beats and calls our children names!” The farmer roared, hurling him in front of Theliv. Farmer’s son, his nose covered in a bacta plasters peeped out from behind his back.  
Hux also wanted to hide behind his father, who could show everyone the force of the Empire! But Father wasn’t there.  
Theliv, who was resting under a tree while the detachment was having dinner, calmly got up, put Hux on his feet and dusted off the sand. This was even more embarrassing. But Hux kept himself up straight and proud. As an officer.

“He is not mine. What happened?”

“The village moron doesn’t know how to carry out orders,” Hux snapped right into the face of a huge, scary farmer. “He did not want to obey!”

“My son?! A moron?! How are you talking to your elders, jerk?!”

Hux involuntarily cringed, fearing - knowing - that the blow will come. He knew that facial expression very well. He knew this movement ...  
He knew how to block in a combat. But now he just couldn’t. His body simply did not obey.

“The lieutenant may seem rude, but he is in his own right.” Theliv stepped forward, smoothly, without any threat, but the farmer somehow deflated and lowered his hand. “This is not a game. If your son does not learn to carry out orders quickly and accurately, he will die during the shelling. We do not know exactly when the Suns arrive, we have no place to evacuate children. We can only teach them how to behave and hide.”

He looked past the farmer directly at the boy.

“The lieutenant studied at the military academy and was in real combat. Listen to what he says.”

The boy nodded, mouth open in surprise.  
Hux blushed even more. And for some reason he wanted to cry even more. But he restrained himself again.  
When the farmers left, Theliv turned to him.

“I know this is difficult, sir, but if you force people to listen without threatening and beating anyone, you can become an excellent commander. How's your ear?”  
Hux left without answering. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth, he would cry.  
He went to Thrass and pretended that he was going to go with him eventually - to inspect the droids.

 

Droids were the fifth problem.  
They disappointed Hux. There were sealed containers with weapons in the hangar, and it was good, but the droids...  
He stood up on his toes to see Thrass’ datapad better, but did not find anything new there.

“There are no fighting ones here ...” He sighed in disappointment. “Why”?

“Because we are not soldiers,” said the Zabrak mechanic. He was elderly and tired, but strong enough to break a ten-year-old boy’s spine, so Hux got closer to “his” non-human, just in case.

“But there is weaponry.”

“That was carried out from Czerka’s warehouses. Bankor was a company town. Digging for dunium. The droids were mostly mining ones, and a bit of field ones - the economy was growing. We were not going to fight anyone, the Corporation protected us, but …”

He grinned wickedly and shook his head.

“When you are half a galaxy from the law, one fine day you understand that you have become a slave. If it were not for the people of The Hand, we and our children would have died as slaves, forgotten by everyone”.

“Thrawn could not save your city.” Thrass spoke evenly, but his face froze, unreadable.

“He is not omnipotent. They say different things about Chiss, but they are definitely not wizards”. The mechanic shrugged. “I was there with his people, they did everything they could. Together with us. If you think of it... it seems I have already seen your friend ... maybe it was then?”

“Let's take a look at the droids,” Thrass suggested.

“But they are all useless!” - Hux still did not understand why it is impossible to just turn around and leave, if it is clear that everything will be like in the list.

“Perhaps,” Thrass said. “Perhaps not”.

“Another ten irrigators are in the field”. The mechanic was also puzzled, but opened the hangar. “We haven’t assembles harvesters yet. The only ones that can shoot are hunter droids, but they fire a weak charge, enough for rodents and birds only. I do not know how this can help us.”

“Why not make the charge more powerful? - Hux carefully approached the “hunter” in order to examine the blaster. Very small caliber, probably a weak generator. Not interesting.

“The system will burn. The model is very old”.

“But with high speed and shooting accuracy,” Thrass noted. “Such hunter droid is able to shoot a running rat at night. If I were you, I would take another look at its systems”.

“Well, yes, if they send mice, we are saved,” Hux snorted. He still did not understand all this fuss.

“Lieutenant, let me appoint CB-0830 and KT-1229 here, to Mr. Ibarra. There will be a lot of work with droids.”

“Why them?” Hux frowned. The story of DR-1633 was repeating itself.

“Perhaps you should retrain them as engineers.”

“Why is that?”

“They only talk about droids and technology in their free time. Have you ever listened?”

Hux sulked.

“I do not need to listen to their conversations! The Supreme leader can not listen to every soldier!” He blushed. His tongue slipped! No one should have known about his dream. But Thrass did not notice anything (or pretended not to).

“Generally, you are right. But each situation offers its own resources. The task of the commander is to use them as efficiently as possible. Am I not right, sir?”

Hux did not think about it before. He was sure that for each case he had his own instructions, and the strategy was to decide on which flank to send the fighters to, not to listen to the girls’ gossiping and not to disassemble the droids. But Truss talked so confidently that Hux was afraid to look stupid to him.

“If something strange happens, I'll call them off!” He warned. Ranger did not mind.

***

Nothing strange happened. Everyone was busy with work and training, even old miner droids dug something day and night in the fields under Reyr's supervision. CB-0830 and KT-1229 disappeared in the workshops. Hux tried to control them, but he couldn’t make out what was going on behind the knock, gnash and flashes of welding.

The DR-1633 really turned out to be a good commander. And he even managed not to beat anyone. Farmers under his and Theliv’s leadership began to resemble soldiers, but there were few of them. Hux did not know anything about the forces of the enemy, but he felt it is not enough. He was accustomed to the endless rows of stormtroopers, and this was hardly a detachment.  
He tried to keep track of everything, but did not have time, busy with his own new “cadets” (who became more disciplined) and ran after the Thrass every day trying to record what was happening, who was responsible etc. Every day he became more and more confused, but for Thrass and Theliv everything seemed so easy! Theliv even had time to fool around.

“ ... how were we doing that on Lysatra? You lay down on the board and wait for the high wave. Sometimes they as high as a house! You need to catch and ride it like this!”

And laughter. Hux approached the river to wash his face in secret - it was so very hot - but it did not work out. A whole crowd of toddlers and older kids were splashing along the shore. Theliv was with them. He just picked up one little kid and threw him away into the water, the brat squealing and laughing.  
But once they noticed Hux, the laughter stopped. Everyone looked at him, as if waiting for something.

“Come here, Lieutenant,” Theliv suggested. He looked bronze in the sun, water dripping from his muscular arms. And the human children around were the same bronze, strong kind. Hux imagined how they would laugh at him, skinny, white. Weak.

“Hold it!” He shouted, blushing, “Why are you not on duty?”

Theliv stopped smiling. His gaze became cold.

“Inspection of the power generator is completed, sir. All work today completed on schedule.”

Hux did not find what to say. Theliv was right. But…

“You can arrange another training! You lose time! You ... you are undisciplined!”

“People are tired, sir”. Thrass silently approached him from the back and sat on a fallen tree, choosing an empty seat among the piles multi-colored clothes. “Besides, farmers need to harvest from the upper fields, otherwise the loss of supplies may be fatal. We must use time wisely. Am I right?”

“Wisely” does not mean to flounder in a stupid puddle”, Hux grumbled, but sat down next to him, enjoying the shade. For some reason he did not want to leave anymore. Now he was not the only one on the shore.

“Will you come to us?” Theliv asked, addressing obviously not to him. Thrass smiled faintly and shook his head.

“Thrass can’t swim?” the blue twi'lek girl asked in a loud whisper. Theliv grinned.

“He can, just doesn’t like to. He likes frozen rivers and lakes to skate. What, do you need a launch, lil’ missile?” Theliv turned his back to the shore, and Hux noticed something he hadn’t seen before: a strip of his spine. Gray steel glowed dimly in the sun.

“Hey!” Hux came closer to the water. “What is with your back?”

“Oops!” Theliv threw the Twi’lek high, and she went under water, but immediately emerged, giggling. “This is a prosthetic spine. Do you know what kind of metal is this?”

“I do not know. What's the difference?”

A small, seriously looking Rodian felt a steel vertebra.

“Smooth … I’ve have already seen this”.

“Dunium” Theliv smiled proudly. “Star destroyers are made of it. Even a huge terrible weapon Empire buit to destroy entire planets!”

“Wow!”

Now everyone wanted to touch Theliv’s space back. He did not mind, only laughed.

“Easy, easy. No tickling!”

“How did you get your spine broken?” Hux did not let up. The smuggler knew about the Death Star. Even in the Core worlds no one heard about it before Alderaan. Is he a spy? Was he crippled for it?

“Long story short, Thrass and I got into trouble. The ship was captured …” Theliv suddenly faltered, as if it was difficult to talk about. “The ship was captured by dangerous creatures from the depths of the galaxy. One of them simply crushed me as a flimziplast leaflet and threw into escape pod gateway. It was automatic: it closes from the side of the ship and immediately opens into space. The pods wasn’t there. Thrass finished this creature off, but the gateway was already closing, and I could not even crawl. Then Thrass blocked the doors with his hand, - there was nothing else, - and held it until help came. Friends pulled us out, but it was too late - he lost his arm below the elbow, and I… you know the rest. But you know what? This spine and Thrass’ arm are once were part of the famous “Chimaera”!

“Oooooh!” the kids breathed out.

“Not exactly,” Thrass corrected. “My hand is made of plastic and metal alloy under which there is a dunium shell”.

“It doesn't matter,” Theliv said. “You sacrificed your arm for me. I will never forget this”.

“Such cases are not uncommon in battle. I would not consider this event as unique.”

“He is playing shy.” Theliv winked at the children. “All right! Who wants to learn how to dive properly?”

Hux turned away from them.

“Dangerous creatures from the depths of the galaxy?” He asked quietly. “What creatures?”

“The data is classified by the Confederation, lieutenant”. Thrass picked up a red pinwheel and blew on it. The pinwheel chirped, unwinding. “There are forces threatening the entire galaxy lurking in the “Unknown Regions”, as you call it. The Confederation and Chiss Dominion can hold them back for now”.

“The Empire is stronger than them combined,” Hux could not imagine something more terrible than the howling cannibals. Howling cannibals in space? He first wondered how big this Confederation is, and what the Chiss Dominion is. He could not imagine that somewhere there are as many large planets with cities, space ports, with millions of inhabitants like in the Empire.  
As it was in the Empire.

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. Lieutenant, could you accompany me tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow? Are we going somewhere?”

“This is a diplomatic mission,” Thrass put the pinwheel down. “Therefore, you must attend as a representative of the Empire.”

Hux rarely blushed with pleasure. “Representative of the Empire”! At last the rangers really recognized this!  
He wanted to tell Thrass that the Empire usually does not enter negotiations, it shows its power (Father often said so), but Thrass seemed to have forgotten about it. He looked at Theliv and stroked his artificial hand absently.


	5. Chapter 5

For all evening Hux has been pondering what he has to say as a “representative of the Empire”. He never found out where Thrass wants to take him, he just received a mysterious: “Is it not obvious, Lieutenant?” And was afraid to look silly.

He wanted Thrass to consider him smart.

Therefore, returning late from the workshop (the cadets even spent the night there), he came up with a plan. Why not attack the Suns first? Even if they kept slaves at that Haani base, it did not mean that they had no other camp closer.

This idea bothered him so much that he ran skipping up to Reyr's house ... but the closer he came, the more doubts was arising. What if this is a stupid idea?

He imagined Father listening to all this. Imagined his tired and contemptuous stare. His disappointment, again…

He slowed down.

The window glowed dimly in the dark. Hux heard footsteps, passing buy, saw a shadow, and instinctively dived into the thick bushes among the flower pots, not knowing why.

“So hot,” Theliv's voice came from above, the blinds rustled. Hux waited a bit, and quietly climbed onto a flower pot, balancing on tiptoes, so that he could see better.

What do the Rangers do when they think nobody sees them? Maybe invent their villainous schemes for the destruction of the Empire? And what if they say something about him?

Theliv was lying on the wide bed, his hands behind his head. Thrass leaned over, resting on his elbow. His braid was loose, he had no shirt on, but somehow he still managed to look regal.

Theliv wore no shirt either. And no pants too, it seemed, although it was not visible under the blanket. Hux didn’t even want to think that they were both naked - he found adults and adult affairs disgusting. Only in textbooks everything was simple and medically accurate, but in reality ...

He tried very hard to forget those evenings when Father had not yet taken him to study at the Academy, but visited mother once in a while. Everyone pretended that the walls are not so thin and that "Armitage is still too young, he does not understand anything."

It was only worse when Father ...

Nothing was worse than two men doing disgusting things. But, thankfully, Theliv and Thrass were just talking.

“Master Kungurama contacted me today. The Order of Equilibrium is concerned about our contacts with the Empire. And Snoke's contacts with the Empire".

"The Order? Worried?" Telev frowned. "Show me the message".

Thrass reached for a pocket projector and laid it on a blanket. A transparent holographic figure clad in dark robe with the hood appeared in the air. 

Hux bit his lip.

A Jedi! Is this a real Jedi? One of the traitors remained alive!

The Jedi spoke in an incomprehensible language, but Theliv listened closely, his frown grew more grim with each second. Finally, he turned off the projector and flopped back on the pillow.

"Master Kungurama, Master Bridger, Master Tano and all their gang can <i> _nej’s ma kthahrn </i> _. They are too nosy for the Guardians of Equilibrium, telling people what to do.

"I told them the same thing, but my wording was more official. And by the way, - “ktahrn” is the word you are looking for,  “kthahrn” is more of a medical term.

"So, nej’s ma ktahrn. In turns". - Theliv sighed. “They also believe that Snoke is behind the Suns. But why does it bother the Jedi? Snoke is just a local syn’idica of Zakuul, who rose to power, manipulating the Force. But he is not Vader or a new Emperor. And even if he were, the Empire would not make the same mistake - the Jedi are too unstable and unpredictable to rule".

“I admit that Master Kungurama knows more than we do.”

"Soontir said that Snoke would not attack yet. He said that he don't have enough resources ... and of course he would deny any connection with the Suns .. _Ktah!_ We need Locke!"

“We've had a similar investigation once. I see many similarities and I remember that the conclusions we have reached were correct."

"Not this again". Theliv closed his eyes and buried his face into the pillow. "But I do not understand how - he does not even have plans!"

"You know who does".

"I really want you to be wrong. But you are always right."

Thrass caressed his steel spine.

“Not always,” he replied softly. "I’ve made my share of mistakes".

Theliv turned to him.

"I was thinking about Master Kungurama today".

"Because of the story about the fall of “ _Chimaera_ ”, I suppose".

"Yeah. Tell me one thing. The ship was crumbling, I was dying, and even if I survived, I could remain a worthless cripple forever. But if you had died, all your strategies and plans would die with you. When you blocked the door to save me, and trapped yourself, did you know that he would come for us? Or ... you just did it without thinking, because…"

"I knew he was coming".

"How?"

"Master Kungurama grew up in the Jedi Temple, he never lived among the Chiss. Becoming one of us is his unattainable dream. Therefore, he is anxious about everything connected with our race, and no matter how radically our opinions diverge, he would not leave me die - simply because I am a Chiss".

Theliv was silent for a long time.

“You couldn't have known for sure,” he finally said.

"I could not. But that was a long time ago, Eli. Now I cannot remember whether I really counted on Master Kungurama or found this explanation later to justify my impulsive actions. Anyway…"

"Anyway, you came to my hospital ward and gave a long speech about the fact that if I become your husband, it will be strategically advantageous in the following points. And we have never even talked about ... us before. I thought it was some kind of a test, misunderstanding, or a joke.

“You've never told me about it before. Did this look like a mockery to you?"

"You bet! I was paralyzed from the neck down, and felt like a corpse. I thought I would never get up. And there you were: a new hand, a white jacket, as if nothing had happened, making up some crazy plans, telling me how precious and handsome I am ... do you understand? I thought maybe you were saying all this out of pity, and it made me feel even worse".

“Oh ...” Thrass nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, now I understand your first refusal. I'm glad everything cleared up, Eli. I did not like to feel rejected, I would say, it tormented me even after our marriage. By the way, you are mistaken: pity has never been my forte".

“We have an evening of sudden revelations today.”

"Belated, I would say. We always have so little time for us…"

"And now it feels like our honeymoon".

"A honeymoon?"

"This is a human tradition. From the very beginning, I thought that our trip to Cleef is a honeymoon that we deserve. You and me against the pirates, together every day". Theliv stroked his cheek.  "Like good old times. Sir."

“Indeed, Lieutenant Commander,” Thrass leaned to kiss him. 

Hux did not look further. He went into the house quietly, tiptoed up the stairs and sat down on the bed.

Snoke is someone who does not like the Confederation. And maybe he wants to make friends with the Empire. But Confederation Rangers are helping the Empire. Are the rangers good or bad? Maybe Snoke is not so bad? He is recruiting slaves from some non-humans, but what is so terrible about it? Non-humans are all traitors and genetic freaks, if you treat them as humans they will only get worse.

But the Suns tried to kill the squad. 

But the Rangers are talking to some Jedi.

He did not know what to make of all this. He had to tell Father, but the comm did not catch the wave.

There was no one who would console him or give advice.

At that moment, Hux was jealous of both Theliv and Thrass and all the Bankor children and even CD-0922. Anyone who has at least someone.

***

Red pinwheels crackled quietly in the wind among the green, like flowers growing on the same bed, but invisible in the tall grass if you do not know where to look.

"Will it be a minefield?" Hux asked, swaying in the saddle. "The pinwheels marks the border".

"You are right".  Thrass smiled a little. "But not only that. There are motion sensors".

“Sensors ...” Hux bit his lip. Why sensors, if there are mines?

He looked around. The same fields, the same droids, flying over them, sprinkling crops.

Droids ...

"Droids will react!" - Hux clapped his hands, but restrained himself immediately. The Imperial official should behave perfectly. "But how?"

"What do you think, sir?"

"Yes, yes, I understand!" Hux grumbled, although he did not understand anything. Thrass smiled again.

"I will definitely show you the results, sir".

Hux almost said he would like to see. It would be a grave mistake. No “likes”! Rangers cannot be trusted.

They entered the forest, and twilight gathered around. Thrass' fiery eyes shone brighter. Hux was uncomfortable, he had never been to the depth of the woods. He scolded himself for not bringing the cadets along, and grabbed the blaster tightly.

"Why do you think that yiirn scum will talk to us? Reyr said they are wild".

“We've saved their leader, and they value the debt of honor. Like all reasonable species".

"Leader? Khriish is their leader?

"Yes, his tattoos mean he is. I collected data about the yiirn during the Czerka War".

"That's where you lost your hand?"

Thrass shook his head.

"No".

“This is stupid,” Hux was afraid to piss him off, but he could not help it. He remembered the yesterday scene and felt sick again. Dirty kisses, and then surely all sorts of lews things - all adults are the same. Even serious ones like Thrass. They all do "it".

"Please, explain".

“You’ve sacrificed your hand. You could both die. Or he would have been crippled and would not be a ranger anymore. If I were you, I would not have done anything. I would never give my hand to save anyone".

"The hand can be replaced with a bionic prosthesis, which will be even more functional. The body of a warrior is his weapon". - Thrass said as if it wasn’t about his own body. “Some, like the legendary General Grievous, replace all the parts, but I prefer to preserve my identity.”

"An accomplice can be replaced too. There are many people like Theliv".

"You are wrong. Theliv is unique, and our companionship is my greatest luck. You can replace any limb, but you can not replace a friend. Do you have friends, lieutenant?"

Hux blushed, embarrassed.

"No...” Certainly, mom and teddy cat can’t be counted as ones. "I don't need friends! And ... Theliv is not your friend, I saw him sleeping on your lap. And I saw you kissing him. Once."

"Ah, I see. Yes, Theliv is my… how do you say it… spouse, but this does not prevent him from being my best friend. A warrior, assessing the situation, always recognizes those on whom his life depends. A long time ago, I gave my words and fate into the hands of Theliv, and he has never let me down. Think, Lieutenant, who holds your life in their hands?"

"Nobody. My cadets obey me, I can defend myself! I do not need anyone".

“Perhaps,” Thrass agreed, and said no more.

The farther they went into the forest, the more troubled Hux became. All the time he felt they were being watched, but Thrass seemed not to notice anything.

He didn’t even stop his fennie when two Yiirns jumped from a tree onto a path with something like a crossbows in their hands (Hux saw a crossbow once in a lifetime, in the picture, and could not vouch for it).

Yiirns walked in silence, guarding them like prisoners.

“Why don't they ask anything?” Hux whispered. "What does it mean?"

"They know who we are. They were waiting for us, most likely".

Hux wanted to shout “Why don't you care?”, but nodded seriously instead.

He mustn't show his fear.

The Yiirn village did not even looked like a village: some sheds, some platforms in the trees and rope ladders. Its dwellers went around, minding their own business but a pair or two of their eyes was following the guests.

Hux hoped these savages really thought of them as guests.

One of the savages, with tattoos similar to Khriish’s, stepped forward. Thrass bowed his head, acknowledging him, and jumped off his fennie. Hux did not get down, he felt safer, watching from above.

“I'm Thrass, Ranger of Confederation. I need to see your father".

"He sssaid you come". Young Yiirn spoke basic much better than the one from the desert. - "Ssaid “the war comss with Shisss. Where shisss are, there will be war.”

"Perhaps. But this time the war came with the Red Suns, who took your leader captive".

Yiirn licked his thin lips with a split tongue and turned away. He hesitated for a second, but gave Thrass and Hux a sign to follow him.

The chief's high hut, covered with familiar tent material, stood at the end of the glade. Multicolored ribbons, faded from time, dangled from the parted trees, smoke сurled above the hut. Yiirn silently pointed to the carved column dug into the ground, threw back the canopy of the hut and disappeared inside. A huge shaggy animal with sharp horns, twisted like conch shells, was treading around the column. It did not pay attention to the newbies, only snorted, driving away the annoying mosquito.

“War comes with Chiss”? Hux asked as Thrass tied up their fennies.

"Yiirn refused to give the oath to the Confederation. They blame Thrawn for unleashing The Czerka War."

"Is it true?"

“Perhaps. Perhaps not, lieutenant. A riot against Czerka had been brewing for a long time, but the Confederation’s proposal helped hundreds of workers all over the world to resolve upon uprising. Does this mean that the war came with the Chiss? Or was the war already on Cleef-L1, and Thrawn merely accelerated the inevitable?”

Hux mused for a while.

“I don't know,” he admitted. "Father says it is important to see the full picture when you deal with complex matters".

"It is reasonable. But if you only have a minimum data about the situation, what will you ground your conclusions on?"

Hux did not have time to answer. He didn’t have time to think it over, - a female Yiirn came out of the tent, tall, ringing with bracelets covering her bony hands to the elbows. Tatoos snaked from her elbows to the shoulder blades.

The woman and Thrass bowed to each other.

“Thhhhanksss,” the woman said hoarsely,  one pair of her eyes was looking at Thrawn, the other at Hux, and the third toward the tent. - "Khriish is ready, go".

Hux did not want to climb into some dirty tent, but there was no choice. The hut turned out to be unexpectedly spacious and not even very dark: in the middle a hearth was glowing in the center, and blue-gray smoke streamed into the hole from above. Some strange objects, weapons, or utensils, hung on the walls: only a primitive bullet gun and an old laser rifle with the Czerka logo could be identified. Under the rifle stood a chest, on the floor dense colored fabrics and mats were scattered. Khriish, now without a collar, was sitting by the fire, wrapped in a blanket, and smoking a long curved pipe. A large saddle with an embroidered blanket, obviously for someone bigger than fennie, was lying across the hut. Thrass settled near the saddle, Hux sat down next to him, copying his pose. Young Yiirn loomed behind his father like a shadow.

A few minutes passed in silence, than Yiirn stirred.

"Cm, Schisss?"

“The spring was rainy this year, there should be tall grass in the Western pastures,” Thrass said casually, as if he came to an old friend to chat about the weather.

 

“Sssshould,” Khriish agreed.

 

"And your lemu grew up strong and healthy. Your warriors can be proud of them, I'm sure. They would be second to none in a battle.

 

"Yesss". All six eyes stopped on him.

 

"You know the conditions. Marshal Vanto had already declared them ten years ago at the Council of a Thousand Voices".

 

"He did".

 

"I will wait for your message". Thrass rose and walked to the canopy.  "Long days and good hunt".

 

“Long, shchshissss,” Khriish, nodded and said something to his son. 

He answered with a series of indignant clicks and squeaks.

Hux hesitated, but ran out of the hut behind Thrass. Even his legs did not have time to grow numb.

"What was that?!" He asked irritably, trying to untie the reins. "This is not a negotiation! We did not know whether he agrees or not, and did not know anything at all!"

"Not so, lieutenant". Thrass hoisted him on a fennie without any effort, even faster than Theliv, as if Hux weighed nothing at all. "We have learned everything we need".

"That there's tall grass on some pasture?"

"That Yiirn are agree to cooperate". Thrass leaded fennies to the path. No one accompanied them this time. "Tell me, what is unusual about their settlement?"

Hux looked around again. Nothing has changed: the same shacks, the same Yiirns, indistinguishable from their leader, except that they were less skinny and with other tattoos. They didn’t stare like people in Bancor...

"There are only grown men here, right? There are no children, no women, except the one we saw."

"You are right".

"So what? We are strangers, they could hide".

"Not Yiirn women. For spring and summer, they go to pastures with young lemu and children. For autumn and winter, after the slaughter of livestock, they unite with men in the settlement. You have seen lemu on a tether, their speed is high, their horns pierce thin metal sheets. Yiirn cavalry is a serious force even against the droids".

"So what?"

“The woman we saw is the first wife of the leader, judging by her tattoos. Therefore, she is a commander of the cavalry and the second in command at the summer pastures. She could leave her people only for the sake of military council".

“But we don't know what they decided.”

"On the contrary. Let me tell you a story. A long time ago I arrived at Cleef-L1 as a mermber of Marshal Mitth’Eli’Wanto's personal guard. All the leaders of people and Yiirn gathered at the Council of the Thousand Voices in a vast field, and the marshal spoke to them. Many of Yiirn rose and left, but those that remained demanded their soldiers to bring them ceremonial saddles. This meant that they were ready to take our side, and their lemu was at our disposal.

“When we entered ... there was a saddle. So what! This is his house, maybe he just put it on the floor for some reason".

"Perhaps. Perhaps not. This is what we will learn tonight. Khriish saw enough being in captivity; he would not need to be pushed towards a right decision”.

“You are too smug,” Hux said seriously. He did not understand how one could be so sure of everything.

"The life of a warrior is full of situations where it is necessary to draw conclusions immediately, when there is no time to gather all possible data. What can you rely on in this case?"

"If you need to decide quickly"...

Hux remembered Father again. Father was never wrong. And he knew a lot.

"You rely on experience, probably. And on your knowledge. Well, what if I decide wrong? What if my experience is wrong?”

Thrass smiled his usual small smile.

"There is no such thing as wrong experience. One can not live without making mistakes, but a warrior learns from them. And  listen closely to those who can warn him in time".

"Like your Theliv?" Hux wrinkled his nose. Again, these cheesy sap about love and friends.

"I didn’t mean him, but you have noticed correctly. Do you despise Theliv?"

"No. He is ... not very bad. But I don't like it when you, well…"

Thrass waited patiently.

"When you are with him, well ... when he braids your hair and you make him caf... it is disgusting".

"Why, sir?"

Hux pretended to be very busy, holding swaying branches away from his face.

"Because… why do adults do it? Together. I do not understand. That is ... this is understandable when someone want promotion or privileges, but ...

He grimaced, feeling the familiar nausea from the memories. 

“How did you know about this?"  Thrass' voice became colder.

"What's wrong with that?” Hux tried to sound casually, like a seasoned officer. "Everybody knows about it. But when I have real subordinates, they will not achieve anything this way, because I don’t need all this. They will have to work and not engage in such filthy games."

“This is a sound approach, sir. And yet, how did you know about it? Are imperial officers on your ship abusing fraternization?

Hux looked at him suspiciously. What does this ranger want? Does he want to know something bad about the Empire?

"Never!"

His nausea intensified. And cold fear came with it.

"Good. But, sir, if anyone forces you into an fraternization or abusive, non-manual relationship, tell your superior immediately. If this happens in New Bankor, tell me or Theliv. As long as the contract is valid, your safety is above all for us”.

Hux wanted to snap back, that this is all nonsense, but could not squeeze out a word, and just nodded.

These adults ... they do not understand: nothing will change. On Dignity, Father is the most superior of all, and Admiral Sloan is far away, and she doesn’t care. Father said she doesn’t care. But if he could take Theliv and Thrass aboard...

No, Father would still be more superior.

No one will defend a common lieutenant. Maybe Admiral Rax could, but Father told him not to tell anyone, and Rax died anyway, so what's the difference now ...

All the way to Bancor he was silent, trying to cope with shame and fear. He calmed down only when he firmly decided that he would not tell anyone, nothing and never.

The remnants of fear were gone when he saw Theliv sitting on the porch.

Theliv was leisurely polishing his rifle and squinting at the sun; the whole place seemed calm and lazy. 

Within a few days, New Bankor had ceased to seem so miserable. Probably it was how “home” feels like.

"So, how’s your diplomatic mission?"  Theliv said, helping Hux off the fennie.

"Everything went as expected. Lieutenant Hux did an excellent job".

“But ... I said nothing.” Hux frowned, trying to figure out if he was being laughed at.

"Yes, and it was the most suitable strategy for the occasion. I am grateful that you allowed me to express myself".

"You are welcome". Hux shrugged.

Theliv smiled.

“I'm on kitchen duty today while Reyr is busy. I promise nothing special, but Mei brought real rice from the upper fields, and Grandma Dardie baked a cake for us. By the way, Derek and I decided to assign her as a sniper. She remembers Clone Wars, you know.

“We’ll discuss this,” Hux pretended that he didn’t care about cake, although in fact he was ready to gnaw at the table.

And sitting at the said table and cutting off a large piece of cake, he realized that he still did not understand why Thrass took him to Yiirn.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STILL IN NEED FOR BETA!

Yiirn came, in the evening, exactly as Thrass has said. Reyr and the others spoke to them at the Town Hall. Khriish spoke about the base, pointed out familiar models of droids, shuttles and fighters on holograms, talked about a map of dunium veins passing through the lands and pastures of yiirn.  
Thrass and Reyr explained the plan to him. Rhiish, his son, the young yiirn Thrass and Hux have seen in the settlement, paced nervously from corner to corner: he had to stay in Bankor with a small detachment, and already hated it.  
Only when he met equally brooding Derek did he thaw for some reason and agreed to teach his people human signals and formations.  
New Bancor did not become a fortress; it did not change much at all. Menacing barricades grew only on the side streets. The children still played on them, but the air was already ringing with tension.  
The brigade sent for the shield generator has returned from the wasteland. Sybil, Katie and engineers have established a smaller chain of generators, and after a while, the shield blossomed over the town like an unstable, iridescent soap bubble, provoking the joyful cries,. It barely had enough energy, but held on.

Everything was ready, but to the last day Hux couldn't believe that the very day would come. Gradually he got used to New Bankor, he liked to be woken up by the sunshine seeping through the window, he liked to look at the town from the high hill (with a little help of Thrass and Theliv who could heave him up on the boulder so he could look above the trees). He liked the cakes and all kinds of things that Reyr cooked.  
And banthas (a bit). And the big yellow flowers that turn after the sun (very much). It almost even outweighed things that did not like, like dust and nonhumans.

Early in the morning, together with the cadets and yiirn warriors, he rode with bankorian children into the thicket of the forest, sleepy from the fenny's motion sickness. He could not understand whether he was sorry or not, whether he was afraid or not. He was more worried abot some kind of red bug, which climbed the collar and bit him in the neck. The bite hurt, the skin around it became swollen, but there were no more problems ...  
Until the three fighters swept, buzzing, over the forest. Three "Bounty Hunters", everything as Khriish said.  
Hux knew what would happen: at first they would try to smash Bancor from above, but the shield would not allow it. Then they will have to lower the shuttles and send the droids forward.  
He turned away. He had his own important task, and Theliv said not to worry about them ... as if he was going to worry about some rangers at all!

BOOM! - the first explosion echoed over the valley, a flock of birds fluttered out of the forest and swept around, screaming.

BOOM!

Mines. Or maybe watering droids and hunters stuffed with explosives, "trained” to ram into the shuttles entering the sensor area.  
So, everything went as Thrass said - the shield did not fall, and ...

BOOM! BOOM!

Battle droids and droidekas went through the fields, against yirns shooting from tall grass. Yiirn knew the signs, they knew where the mines were planted.

BOOM!

And then there was a completely different sound. Rattle, loud crackle of trees falling from afar, like giant steps...  
In the world that Hux knew, only one thing could walk like this. And Khriish did not mention it.

Hux grabbed at his broken comm, dialing Theliv's frequency, but the light flashed and went out.

"Derek! Keep moving. Sybil, Katie, follow me!" - he commanded, tugging at fenny's reins turning him around.

Stupid move, Thrass and Theliv will certainly notice, they do not need to be warned.  
Stupid move, but the officer should lead his people into battle, and not run away with the children. No matter how scared he was.  
Even if you want to cry out of fear.  
He bent low to fennie's neck to avoid branches whipping across his face.  
If Father would ask what he was doing, what would he answer? "I hid among nonhumans?” In such case. he is better die.  
Fennie rushed forward in huge leaps and Hux barely managed to stop him in front of the minefields.

“Stand,” he ordered quietly, stroking the furry nose of the beast. Together with the cadets, ducked into the thicket, bypassing the turettes. Huge yellow flowers fluttered overhead, their dense stems stood firmly, like a forest. He whistled a couple of times, as Theliv taught him, to warn yiirn snipers. He froze a couple of times, crouching, while Katie and Sybil calmly finished off the droids, shooting at them or hammering them with batons. There was no time to think, or he would die of fear.

A couple of times it seemed to him that he was lost; explosions blasted nearby, earth rained from the sky, everything was covered with smoke, but through the roar and screams of dying yiirns, Hux heard shots, getting closer and closer, until he got out of Keira's backyard.  
He knew - Thrass with the sniper rifle will be on the roof of the Town Hall but there is too much open space between them now. And Theliv... he must be by Reyr's house. At the other end of Bancor.

The town was even worse than the fields: it seemed that the enemies were shooting from everywhere. Hux squealed and hid behind Sybil or Katie a few times.  
Somewhere far away some big animals roared, on the main street broken droids laid mixed with human and nonhuman bodies. Hux tried not to look their way. For him, there were only tiny stretches of space between the houses that needed to be quickly run across, crouching.  
The shots faded for a second, the street looked calm and safe, but Hux still sent Katie forward to provide cover.  
And it didn’t help.  
He did not understand how this happened: Katie rolls over the corner behind a shooting droid. Sybil shoots someone on the side. And suddenly someone huge lands nearby with a loud 'clang' and a hand in an armored glove knocks the blaster out of Hux's hand, and the other lifts him high by the neck, holding him easily, like a toy ...

"Twitch, and I’ll kill you”, an unfamiliar voice hissed over his ear, and something cold came up against his temple.

Hux knew what it was, and simply went limp.  
He had to be scared, but he only closed his eyes.

"I can't take it anymore", he thought. “Father, if something happens to me, don't be too angry at me”.

But he knew that Father would still cross, even if he died. And then he would breathe a sigh of relief - the useless son will no longer do stupid things and embarass him.

"Hey, on the roof! I’ve got a boy! Throw the gun down!".

Hux knew that Theliv would not drop his weapon - otherwise everything would go downhill.

He did not know whether he was afraid or not. He could not believe that he would die, because death is a thing that happens with the others. And still he knew that would happen.  
Something flopped to the dust.

“Let him go, Locke. Or are you a children killer now?"

Theliv stepped out of the dark doorway and pushed the blaster away with his foot.

“You have no idea what I am, ranger. Now let's talk, I like to talk with people like you when you have something to lose. Keep your hands where I can see them".

"Everything will be fine, Armitage. Just stand still and everything will be fine."

Hux opened his eyes. Theliv did not look at Locke, but at him, and for some reason it suddenly made Hux want to cry. But he restrained himself as an officer should.

“Everything would be fine if you wouldn't do something stupid, Ranger".

Theliv squinted, his lips twisted.

"What do want to talk about?"

"Who the kriff are you?"

"Rangers of the Confederation, who does not like it when some freaks boss over our land".  
A cold, smelling oxidized metal muzzle of a blaster crashed into Hux's cheek.

"I see you do not really care about the kid. Some people at Bankor recognized you. A man who stirred up trouble here and called everyone to fight Czerka.  
Theliv clenched his jaw.

“You probably wanted to take me and find out who I work for. Jubi Locke does not dime out his employers".

“I already know who you work for. Come on, Locke, there are no idiots here: in this part of the galaxy, only three parties need so much dunium: the Dominion, Conferderation and the First Order of the Zakuul Revived, but the Dominion will not messed up on Thrawn's territory, so it leaves our old friend Snoke.

Blaster scratched Hux's cheek, and rested on his temple.

"Unwinded our entire scheme and reached me. Not bad. Now I believe that it’s really you, E…"  
Locke stumbled. It smelled of scorched hair, and the blaster fell to the ground. Locke fell behind, and Hux would have fallen with him, but Theliv managed to catch him in time.

"Well done. You're fine". Theliv squeezed him so tight that his ribs almost cracked, but Hux could not even resist, his fingers clenching at Theliv's shoulders. Theliv's heart was beating loud and fast, as if he was afraid. But he could not be afraid of Locke, could he? He is a ranger after all.

“You will thank Thrass afterwards. Don't you forget”.

Hux turned his head, scratched by Theliv's unshaven cheek. Locke laid motionless, a neat little hole dark in the back of his head. A round hunter droid hovered above the body. One of his eye-lenses scanned the battlefield and closed. The droid flew away.  
Hux finally scrambled out of the embrace.

“Hands off! I am an officer in the Empire. And ... they have AT-AT! I heard one in the forest, there, over the hill! Maybe there is more! My comm broke again…”

“Got it”. Theliv ruffled his hair and got up. “It’s too dangerous for you to go back. Hide in the house, lock the door. Do not go near the windows”.

“Katie and Sybil are here too.” Hux looked around. The cadet in white armor laid motionless in the dust.

Sybil.

Katie limped towards her, and threw off her helmet. She did not look around, only forward, at the body. The blaster hung in her limp hand.

“Katie!” Hux shouted.

Nothing.

“KT-1229!”

Katie stopped

“Helmet on! Fall in!!”

For a second, she froze like a broken droid, but still found the strength to pick up a helmet and put it on. Theliv pushed Hux to the porch. He automatically obeyed and decided to punish the ranger later. For the violation of subordination, for hugging, and for ruffling the officer’s hair.

The house was dark and empty, the silence was menacing. Fear ordered Hux to hide somewhere and wait, but not knowing what was happening was even worse, so he simply ran to the second floor and climbed out through the hatch upstairs.  
On the flat open roof, the sun was burning hotter, but he didn't care. Holding the blaster to his chest, he crawled under the linen hanging from the ropes, past the pallets with drying fruit, and carefully peered out between the balusters of the parapet.  
Theliv, Sybil and Katie were nowhere in sight, the street was silent, but there was a rumble and rattle from far away - AT-AT was slowly walking in a trembling haze, crushing everything in its path. Mines were blowing under his steel legs, but, designed for humans and droids, did not cause much harm.  
The closer AT-AT came, the less and weaker Hux felt. It’s good to stand on the dreadnought’s bridge and command such things, but wait for the walker to crush you...  
The first shot left the crater in place of Keira’s house. The next one blew up the greenhouses. A third destroyed the house across the street, and caustic smoke blocked Hux's vision.  
He should go down to the basement, as Theliv ordered, but the suspense still seemed worse.  
Hux was too scared to be afraid for his life.  
And he thought that if he hides too well, no one will come after him. Adults will forget about him, as they did at Dignity.

He crouched into a lump, not daring to raise his head; only a new strange sound made him pop out again.  
The thunderous clatter, like the roar of drums, sharp screams - an avalanche of huge armored lemu with pointed horns fell on Bancor, demolishing hedges and barricades, knocking down the corners of houses, crushing the fallen droids, shredding corpses.  
Yiirn riders seemed to barely hang on the furry backs. They threw something to each other on the run, as if playing a ball. A second, and the wave broke at the feet of the AT-AT. They bounced around in strange patterns, as if trying to create a whirlpool. Hux did not understand why they were doing this, until the machine suddenly stumbled, until a net of metallic threads sparkled in the sun. AT-AT staggered again, and collapsed helplessly, entangled, crushing the houses, crushing the lemu who did not manage to escape.

Later Hux was told that the battle lasted another half an hour, but for him it was all over at that moment.  
He slowly went downstairs with blaster in hand, sat down at the dining table, and sat like this until Derek found him.  
Probably, it was necessary to do something, but all the training flew out of his head, leaving an empty void. Too much deaths. Too real.

“Sir!” - Derek stood at attention. “The fight is over, our losses are minimal”.

Katie silently entered the house and shut the door tightly behind her. For some reason, she held a vibro-axe with a red hilt, heavy and menacing.  
Hux swallowed when he heard the lock click shut. Something was wrong.

“Go private. Thrass would give me a full report”.

But Derek did not leave.

“One more thing, sir.”

“What?” Hux looked past him at Katie. She did nothing, did not even look at him. She stood leaning sloppily on a door, as if the commander meant nothing to her.

“We want to stay here in New Bankor. We will not return to Dignity. Sir.”

Derek's blaster was removed from the holster and turned to combat mode.

“You have to come back.” Hux clenched his fists. “You are soldiers of the Empire; it is your duty!”

“What Empire? A few ships are not the Empire. And what have we all seen from you? Just the drill, beating and shouting. Here we can live like normal people do. Reyr said she would be glad. She said they need us.”

“The Empire needs you! It gave you everything, it feeds you and teaches you, and ... it's not fair! You took the oath! You can’t break it!”

“We crossed our fingers,” Derek grinned viciously. “Come on, Huxy, tell your dad that we died here.”

Hux remembered that almost forgotten feeling: a half-dark room, predatory children watching him. One wrong move, and they will attack.

“Huxy?” He tried to speak confidently, as if he were bigger and older than them. “I am your commander, soldier!” 

“I had enough of him,” Katie said suddenly. Derek turned to her, and Hux realized that this was the only chance. He rushed to the stairs, almost fell, stumbling on a chair, and ducked down just in time - Derek's fingers grabbed the air above his collar.

Once on the second floor he ran into the Reyr’s, room, the farthest one, and blocked the door.  
He did not know what to do next: the idea that it was better to run into the basement and barricade himself there came too late.  
The bed stood firmly on the floor but he was lucky - the wardrobe with the combination lock was open. Hux quickly climbed in and closed the door, leaving only a tiny little crack.  
Nothing happened. Somewhere on the street, shuttles roared . But the house was quiet.

"Huxyi! Geeet out"! Katie's voice sang somewhere in the hallway.

Hux bit his sleeve and pressed into a corner. Even if he jump out of the window and call for help, they will not hear him behind such a roar. And if he jump out, he would almost certainly break his leg and then Derek and Katie will finish him.  
But he has the blaster! If he shoot from the closet as soon as she enters...

He unholstered his blaster and felt a little calmer. But then he remembered how the cadets dodge shots and rush at the attack aircrafts as wild beasts.

"Come on, Huxy, go out to big sister!"  
The door bent under the impact of the vibro-axe. Hux squealed.

"It's your fault! It is because of you!"  
The dents in the door became deeper and deeper.

"You're alive, you, piece of shit! And she is not! Because of you!"

The blade now shredded the door. Hux saw Katie's hand reach for the sensor. The door opened. He saw Katie on the doorstep. She stood crouched and looked around the room, moving her head like a snake.  
He must open the door and shoot, but Hux could not force himself.  
He lost.

"Get out, worm!"

She cried that out loud and did not notice Thrass. He simply appeared behind her like a silent shadow, gently took her head in his hands and turned it in one swift motion. To the crunch.  
Hux slowly unclenched his teeth on the sleeve.

“You're safe, lieutenant,” Thrass said softly, carefully laying the corpse on the floor. "You can go out".

Hux scrambled out of the closet. His knees trembled, he was about to fall.

“Derek is here too ... he is also a traitor!”

"Do not worry about it". Thrass gave him an appreciative look. "Is your blaster charged?"

Hux nodded, blushing. What is the use of a blaster if you are afraid to use it!

"Perfect. You, as an officer of the Empire, have one more thing left to do. It does not take much time".

"I'm ready".

Hux had no idea what Thrass was talking about, but he was ready to agree with anything, just not to think.

They left the house. Derek sat on the ground, his hands tied to the railing of the porch. Seeing Hux, he bared his big teeth and hissed some indistinguishable curse.

"Desertion and betrayal are serious crimes. In times of peace, they are most often punished with a prison term. In times of war, the only suitable punishment is death".

Thrass spoke as if explaining a commonplace theory in class.

“The duty of an officer in this case is to execute the defector, demonstrating to the soldiers that the justice of the Empire works quickly and efficiently.”

Hux bit his lip. He wanted to drop the blaster and run back, because Derek looked him in the eye.

Planning to shoot, and knowing that you have to shoot, is not the same thing.

“You ... you can execute him too!” Hux handed the blaster to the ranger.

Thrass shook his head.

“I do not serve the imperial army. If you entrust execution to someone from outside, it will lose personal, educational significance for the soldiers, sir."

“You can take the oath. Right now".

"I have already taken the oath to Confederation. There is another way: we can take the deserter with us so that the senior in rank renders a sentence on the ship".

Hux imagined Father's face. He imagined Father pursing his lips, as he looked disappointedly.  
“You are an officer, Armitage, learn to make decisions already!”  
“You brought him here because you couldn't handle it yourself?”  
"Nothing will ever come of you."

“What are you doing here?!” Reyr approached them, clutching a shovel in her hand. Behind her her sons stood in silence. “Are you crazy, ranger?! They are children!"

"Stay where you are, please” Thrass said calmly, a hidden threat vibrating in his voice. "The status of a private and an officer gives rights and obligations. The rank system does not make allowances for age".

Reyr stopped, but her muscles were tense, as if she was ready to rush forward.  
Derek grinned.

“You pale cowardly worm, Huxy. Weak and good for nothing. You can't even shoot me! Well, tell the blue bastard to shoot! Only one day your stormtroopers would eat you alive. Everyone hates you!"

Hux gritted his teeth. He knew this, he always knew! But the cadets obeyed, and he thought that maybe they even started ...

“I'll shoot you myself!” He shouted, and without even aiming, he shot at point blank range. Straight to the grinning face.

For a few seconds he couldn't believe in this stillness, this scorched hole.  
And when he did, he threw off the blaster and ran away.

***

From the hill he could see the whole New Bancor. What is left of it.  
There were no more beautiful green fields. There were no streets - black funnels gaped in place of houses, like broken teeth.  
He turned away and looked at the mountains, at the clearing left by the AT-AT. He was too late to notice Thrass approaching.

“How are you feeling, sir?” Thrass asked, stopping nearby.

"I dont know. My head hurts. My stomach ache. I'm sick. And a beetle bit me in the forest, my neck hurts too”. Hux was hunched over, sitting on a boulder.

"It was your first killing. Do you like it?"

"This ... this was strange. Derek used to be, but now he’s just gone. And I can never scold him or prove something to him or punish him. Never again. Never."

“So you have come to the right conclusions. Execution or murder is the most extreme measure. The commander must use it carefully, because it is impossible to correct the consequences. This solution is not always the most effective, rather the opposite".

"I understood”. Hux hugged himself. He no longer wanted to cry. He wanted to lie down and die. “I'm a bad commander.”  
Thrass moved closer.

"I can't agree".

"What?"

"I watched your actions. Not all of them were far-sighted, but some inspired respect. As the newly appointed officer of the Empire, you have done more or less satisfactorily…"

Hux sighed heavily.

"... and for a human child, inexperienced in battle - beyond praise".

Thrass smiled. The smile was barely noticeable, but it was revealed by fine wrinkles in the corners of his eyes. And his look. Not scary at all.

“Thank you ...” Hux blushed. “But you saved me twice, so I'm a bad soldier anyway. And Locke died because of me... I owe you now. A debt of honor ... does the Chiss have such thing?"

“You don't owe me anything. There are many like Locke; he is not the last on our list. I just fulfilled my duty as a ranger - eliminated the offender, and fulfilled my duty as an adult - protected the child".

“I am not a...” Hux began, but he was tired of repeating it. Who is he now, without the cadets?  
Without cadets ...

A sudden horror pierced him.  
How could he believe, even for a second, that he is okay?! He lost valuable soldiers!  
He ruined everything. Father will not forgive him. Never. This is the end.  
He clumsily climbed off the stone, thinking whether to shoot himself in the head. It was a scary thing, but he couldn't think of anything else.  
The bite on his neck ached and throbbed, the nausea intensified, even the saliva became bitter.  
Thrass was with him all the way to Bancor, so Hux didn't have an opportunity to shoot himself and obediently followed him, because it didn't make any difference.  
Reyr and Theliv were waiting for them on the porch. Theliv saddled his fennie gloomily. The other two beasts stood side by side, with saddlebags and weapons.

“Go away,” Reyr said. “We are grateful to you, but we want you to leave.”

“The boy needs some rest,” Thrass said.

“You yourself said that he is not a boy, but an officer. I don’t know what’s going on in your head, ranger, and I don’t want to know. Just go away".

"I understand". Thrass put Hux in the saddle. "If the Suns return, the Confederate Navy ship is on the orbit. Your feat did not go unnoticed".

Reyr turned away and went into the house.

They left the town in silence. Riding between fresh graves, between droids, leveling the field as if nothing had happened, Hux could not stand it anymore.

“How dare she?! We won!"

The void corroded him from the inside. Why can no one just rejoice ?! Why can't he? He would give everything not to think about Father and cadets, drink milk and go to bed under a cozy quilt".

“The farmers won, not us. Farmers always win. This is the way of the warrior, Armitage“. For the first time Thrass called him by his name, but for some reason Hux did not want to get angry. "For warriors like us there is no absolute peace, somewhere there is always a war, and we must be there".

"See? This is how anyone who decides to follow him, lives,” Theliv said. His eyes burned with rage. "Do you think we will be remembered as some Lone Rangers? No, we became villains for them! “Three villains from the Valley of Skulls,” that's what they would call us. Because this man here does not know how to live otherwise!"

Thrass said something in an unfamiliar language.

“No, you were mistaken. The conversation is not over". Theliv pulled the reins and fennie snored in protest. “I'm sorry that he did this to you, Armitage."

“I've made a choice, long time ago” Thrass said calmly. “Besides, it was a good lesson”.

“What lesson?! You should have settled it yourself! This is a human child, not a Chiss! They have different psyche at this age! You should have protected him!”

"I’ve protected him". The corner of Thrass mouth jerked. “And he is warned against mistakes in the future.”

"This is not a protection! You ... ” Theliv exhaled, rubbing the bridge of his nose violently. “Screw this. My head hurts. I’m probably never getting used to your dark side. Bridger was right about you".

“I have no dark side.”

"Of course you have. Everyone has it, but yours ... maybe you can tell me at last what happened after I left to the Dominion? What made you so ... like now".

"Nothing special happened. Perhaps you have changed, not me".

“I know that you are ashamed of many things, and I ask this not to shame you. I want to understand".

“Then you should not have taken the valuable opinion of Master Bridger in the account. He is biased, our common past still influences him. He sees me as a villain, a military doctrine makes no sense for him".

"Alright, alright it was a sucker punch, shame on me. Are you still cross with him?"

"Maybe. But this is between us".

"Stop quarreling, I'm tired of you! Stop talking ... like I'm not here…" Hux closed his eyes. He felt sick, and the world around him became cloudy. Sweat streamed down his back under the tunic, it was very hot, although the sun was setting. The bite on his neck hurt and throbbed.  
Fennie's back was stiff, and the beast walked at an angle, as if climbing a slope.

"Stop quarreling ... and ... there is uneven ground, I’ll fall now, find another way..".

"Hey! Kid!"

He seems to have fallen all the way.

... or not... because the next time he opened his eyes, there were dark trees and a fennie's neck in front of him... but someone else held the reins and someone hugged him so that he would not fall.  
Probably Theliv, because Thrass was riding next to him, so it could not have been Thrass ...

"Hold on, I know a great place for the camp nearby".

Surely Theliv. This reassured Hux, and he closed his eyes ...

... and probably fell asleep, because now he was lying on the ground and there were stars above, and it was hot, and some weight pressed on him, as if they had thrown a lot of blankets on top. A fire was cracking nearby, and Theliv said something to Thrass, and Thrass had a syringe in his hand ...  
Hux knew that they wanted to kill him, poison him, that they were traitors! He tried to break free, to get out of the blankets, but Theliv pressed him to the ground and laid his cold hand on his forehead.

"Hush now, it's just a stim, just a stim".

...and it probably was just a stim, because when Hux woke up the next time, the world stopped spinning, although it was as if his head was covered with cotton wool. He couldn’t move, just turn his head. He could see Theliv sleeping near the fire, and Thrass sitting next to him, but they were so far away, at the end of dark corridor, and cadets settled close on the edge of the forest, and they got closer ...  
Hux closed his eyes. He was afraid of them and he was thirsty, but he did not even have the strength to call out.  
Nobody will come anyway. Father will leave him here, he said that the weaklings should be abandoned to die.  
Hux whimpered softly, out of fear, out of helplessness, out of loneliness, not hoping that anyone would hear. He should have shot himself… he should...  
The Rangers are always together, even when they quarrel, they don’t need him ...  
Someone suddenly lifted his head and pressed something firm to his lips - the edge of the flask.  
Thrass. He did not notice the cadets smirking behind him.

“He will fall asleep too, Huxy”.

“You are ours, Huxy”.

“Thrass ...” Hux grabbed the ranger's arm. “I command ... don't sleep.”

“I will not sleep, sir. I will keep the fire going".

“No, sit here ... or they will kill me ... I order you, sit here ... and don’t sleep ...”

“Yes, sir,” Thrass replied softly, wiping Hux's face and nose with a rag. “You are completely safe.”

"Will I die?" Hux grabbed his hand, it was so cold! “Don't lie to me... will I die?”

“Nobody dies from a mingve's bite. Try to sleep, I'll be here".

And he really was. Several times Hux woke up delirious, knowing that Katie with an axe was somewhere near, that Derek had not forgiven him, but each time he saw only Thrass, who sat between him and the forest with his back straight. Still, like a sentry.

***  
"... exhausted. I’ve never wanted to be a trooper, I am a navy!

"In this case, you need to devote more time to training. This planet reveals our weaknesses".

"Yes, and what is yours?"

“Isn't that obvious?”

And the laugh.  
Hux sat squinting from the sun. He was nauseous, the world was swaying a little, and his whole shirt was soaking wet with sweat. It turns out that they packed him in a sleeping bag and wrapped it in camouflage cloaks like a caterpillar in a cocoon. But the butterfly didn’t work out of it, his arms and legs became heavy, clumsy.

“Good morning, sir.” Theliv approached him with a pot of something hot. " How do you feel?"

Hux shrugged and grimaced, smelling the broth. Pleasant smell, but too strong, it make him sick again.

"I won’t eat, take it away!"

“You have to, sir. You were unconscious for a day and a half. Just a couple of spoons, will you?"

Another time, Hux would yell at him, but this time he allowed him to pour in a couple of spoons and ate a boiled liver. He needed strength to argue.  
He rode a fennie with Theliv, because he couldn't sit in the saddle. He sat sideways, and it was even nice to just lie back on the ranger’s chest and doze off, like he was a child.  
It was nice not to think about anything. His brain almost did not work - and it was okay. Theliv and Thrass were always there, and he stopped worrying, just swayed in the saddle and sleepily watched the sun blink through the leaves.

Fear came back suddenly when the rangers camped by a wide, fast river. 

“We'll wait for Brandol here,” Theliv announced. “He must get here soon”.

“Is this ... is it accurate?”

“If they have not lost their way ... what is wrong with you, sir?”

"Nothing!" Hux turned away so that Theliv would not notice the tears. “This is not your business!”

Theliv sighed and squatted before him.

“Is it because of the cadets? It's not your fault, Armitage".

"Leave me alone!" Hux kicked him in the knee and covered his face with his hands. " You do not understand! Leave me alone!"

“You are not the one to blame,” Theliv repeated and walked away.

Hux sat cowering for a long time, ready for execution, but father still did not appear, and he began to slowly look around. Rangers stood at a distance by the bridge and were discussing something. Then Thrass undressed, pinned his hair up and jumped into the water. Theliv handed him something from the shore, and the Chiss disappeared into the muddy waves under the bridge.  
Hux wanted to come over, ask what they were doing, but he did not move. No more fraternization. He should forget about them. When father comes, no rangers would protect him anymore.


End file.
